


Avatar: The Legend of Carmilla

by PolarBearDogPatronus



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Also straight couples, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Angst, Crossover, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Useless Lesbians, also definitely other couples, also maybe other couples, hinthint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-03-19 22:54:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 65,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3627330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PolarBearDogPatronus/pseuds/PolarBearDogPatronus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when you mix the Carmilla gang with Team Avatar? And then shove them together in HOGWARTS? A lot of romance, a lot of BROTP's, and a lot of angst.</p><p>EDIT: I'm stuck on the ending. I don't like how I've ended it, and I'm looking for inspiration. Ideas?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When Creampuffs and Team Avatar Collide

**Author's Note:**

> Don't judge me by my titles. It is a skill I have yet to learn...if I ever actually learn it.  
> This chapter is mostly character intro! Enjoy the fluff!

Korra had fallen asleep on Asami’s shoulder, again. The dark-skinned girl never was terribly fun on road trips, Asami thought. 

Asami was reading the syllabi for the classes she was going to take this term: Transfigurations 6, Potions 6, Ancient Runes 3, Magic Creatures 3, Muggle Mechanics 7, and Magical Mechanics 7. A heavy load, for one term. But, being Asami Sato, she wasn’t too nervous about getting good marks. She was really excited for the Mechanics classes. Even though they were both seventh-level classes, it wouldn’t be her first time taking them. Technically, she should probably already have graduated from Hogwarts with Honors last year, but she decided to return for the sake of her friends. If she was being truly honest with herself, she was mostly coming back to Hogwarts to escape her home life. 

Her father, Hiroshi Sato, was the President of the Ministry of Magic, and recently, there had been a lot of talk about political disturbances and uprisings happening in various places throughout the wizarding world. For the past few months, he would rarely come home before ten o’clock and even when he was home, he went straight to his room. She hadn’t spoken to him in weeks.

She looked down at the sleeping girl on her shoulder and smiled sadly. Korra had a wonderful family who was kind enough to offer a place to stay over summer in case things at home got too lonely or stressful, but Asami had politely declined. Since her father was always busy and usually in the papers, his home life – aka Asami – was fairly well known, too. And, fairly busy. She was often found at the Ministry, helping with business affairs between industries and companies, signing papers in somebody’s office, or at the factories, instructing mechanics and introducing new machines. 

She had a knack for combining the industrial aspects of the muggle world with magic and many of her inventions made the front page in the Daily Prophet. 

She stroked Korra’s hair softly and looked up to see Opal doing the exact same thing to Bolin. Opal and Bolin had been, er, in a flirtationship for months now, but neither were bold enough to ask the other to be in a relationship. Opal winked at Asami and Asami chuckled softly. The movement was enough to shake Korra awake. With an awkward grunt, she jolted out of her nap and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Opal put her hand on her forehead and mouthed “sorry” to a smiling Asami, who shrugged and turned back to her drowsy friend.

“Morning, sunshine,” Asami laughed.

“Ungh, mornin’ ‘Sami,” Korra grumbled, rubbing her eyes. “How long was I asleep?”

“Long enough to miss the prettiest part of the trip! We’re almost there.” 

“Oh good, I’m starving. I could eat a badgermole.” 

“Even if there was such a thing as a badgermole, I’m not so sure you would be able to eat one,” Asami laughed again, “you ate half of the trolley when it came by!”

Korra smiled lazily, “So? You’ve seen me eat three whole pizzas by myself once, a badgermole shouldn’t be any more difficult than that.”

Opal shook Bolin softly, “Hey, sleepyhead, we’re almost there.”

“Five more minutes…” Bolin groaned and flipped over, so that he was facing the upholstery of the train car’s benches, though still leaning on Opal’s shoulder.

Korra leaned back in her chair and nudged him a few times with her boots. “Come on, lazy butt, we’re almost there and Opal wants the drool on her shirt to dry before we go outside!”

“What? I drooled on you?!” Bolin jumped up and fell onto the floor. Opal blushed and everyone laughed. 

Asami smiled as the train neared the station. She was glad school was starting again. She loved these people and she was sure this was going to be a great year.

************************************

“Could you, for one second, talk about anything other than Quidditch?” LaFontaine blurted out, ready for the train ride from hell to be over soon so they could meet back up with Perry at their usual meeting spot and maybe steal a kiss or two.

“Sorry, LaF, but Mako just doesn’t understand that being a Keeper is way, way more challenging than being a Chaser,” Danny said, matter-of-factly. 

“Woah, woah, woah. I thought we’d agreed hours ago to disagree on that subject?” Mako looked frustrated, like he was losing whatever argument the two athletes had been having for the past six hours. 

LaF didn’t care who was winning or losing, they just wanted peace and quiet for all of five seconds before their head exploded like a badly prepared potion. They rubbed their temples, at their ropes’ end. “Look. I don’t care about chasers or keepers or seekers or beakers or whatever, and that’s all you lot have bickered about for the entire train ride, and I don’t know where Laura went, and –“ 

“EW Mako did you just fart?” 

“No! You smelt it, maybe you dealt it!”

“HOLY BUTTERBEER I AM SO DONE WITH YOU TWO!” LaF stormed out of the cabin, “I’m going to find Perry, we’re almost at the station.” 

LaFontaine loved Danny and Mako, but they were definitely sitting in another cabin on the train ride home. They took a deep breath and walked down the train hallway. They didn’t want to think about the train ride home – they had been waiting all summer for school to start again. This was going to be a great year. This year was going to be the greatest of all great years, they thought. This was the year they tell Perry how they really feel about her and this was the year they ask her to be their girlfriend. 

*************************************

Carmilla stepped off the train and quietly made her way to the meeting point. She didn’t have much luggage – only one trunk – so she was able to skirt past the other transfer students to wait for their tour guide at the ‘lamppost next to the bush that was shaped like a grindelow’, according to the instructions she was given. She guessed that it would be a while before all of the transfers would be gathered in their meeting spot, so she pulled the book she’d been reading out of her back pocket and leaned against her trunk. 

“What do you think, Kitty?” her younger brother, Will, rolled up next to her. “Not such a bad-looking place, is it?”

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “It’ll do, I guess.” 

“It’ll do? This place is massive! Look at all these kids. I’m sure there will be plenty to eat without getting caug—“ 

“SH!” Carmilla hissed, “Keep it down, numb nuts! These are all well-versed students of magic, don’t think they don’t know what a vampire is. If we’re not smart about this, they’ll have us burned before Christmas.”

“Whatever you say, sugarpuss,” it was Will’s turn to roll his eyes. “Even if we have to stick to whatever is in the Black Forest, I’m just excited to eat something other than woodland creatures.” He turned around and started to introduce himself to some of the other students. 

Carmilla would never admit it, but she loved her brother – even if they weren’t technically related through genetics, they were technically related by blood. They were both turned by the same person. Will was a few decades younger than herself, but that wasn’t saying much, considering how old they both were. By now, she had to be almost four centuries old, and he was well over three. Nevertheless, she liked the role of the older sister, so she played it up as much as possible. 

She glanced up from her book to watch him socialize, and smiled when she saw he was successful at making friends. Secretly, she envied his ability to make friends so easily. She used to be more social, and in fact fell in love, once, but that was a long, long time ago. Will didn’t know, but Carmilla had actually been to this school once before, many years before he was turned and joined their little family of three. 

She shuddered at the word ‘family’. What she, Will and their Mother had was many things, but not a family. 

Their Mother, Ms. Sanguina Karnstein, was the vampire who created both Carmilla and Will. She was tall, thin, and pale, she wore her sleek black hair in a tight bun on the back of her head, and – with the only exception being her deep red lipstick that matched the red ring on her left hand – she never dressed in anything other than dark grey. She only smiled when she was very angry, and she was only angry enough to smile when someone did something to deserve punishment.

Carmilla hated her. She was the epitome of evil. Carmilla resented having to follow her every whim, but unfortunately, as the spawn of such a woman, she had no choice. Besides, as a vampire herself, where would she go if she left her creator? She loathed herself. She despised what she was. But she stuck with her Mother and Will because she, ultimately, had no other option.   
The trio were going to spend the next few years under the guise of transfer students from the more eastern parts of Europe. Carmilla’s face dropped when she read the all-too-familiar sign for the school they were transferring to: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

*********************************************

Laura loved the housing ceremony. Ok, Laura loved pretty much everything about Hogwarts, but she really loved the housing ceremony. It was always just so exciting whenever a new little first year came into Gryffindor House. She was always surprised at how young they all looked – they seemed to get smaller every year. She wished she could say she was never as little as some of them but, as Danny and Korra would constantly remind her, she was actually smaller than a lot of them. She was still smaller than some of them. 

Laura could remember a lot from her first year. She was super nervous about getting placed, and she was even more nervous about making friends wherever she went. She was relieved when the Sorting Hat gruffly called out “Gryffindor”, 

She cheered as Gryffindor gained another cute little eleven year old, this one a scrappy-looking kid with his hair half buzzed and sun bleached on the top. He had a smug smile on his tiny little face and he bounced when he walked. Laura bet she was probably shorter than he was. But that didn’t matter, she was excited for him to join the table with her.

The rest of the table seemed similarly excited: Korra, Mako, Danny and Bolin were already planning Quidditch strategies onto their napkins; a group of second year girls was giggling over the scrappy new first year; even the snobby seventh years were smiling and enjoying the massive feast in front of them.

The bounty of food on Laura’s own plate was enough to fill even Korra and Bolin. Hams, turkeys, burgers, salads, pastas, fruit, pasties, pies, cakes, rolls....Laura wanted to try everything on the table in front of her, but she couldn’t stop herself from having three servings of the magical version of potato salad and a large helping of some kind of pulled meat that tasted like it was baked in brown sugar. 

Korra nudged Laura’s shoulder, pointing at her messy plate of potatoes and brown-sugar-meat. Laura pushed the plate in her direction – there was no way she could eat another bite – and Korra happily helped herself. Bolin teased Korra for being a mooch and earned a punch to the arm, which resulted in a competition to see who could punch the hardest. Mako and Danny exchanged looks and joined the competition, until someone splashed someone else’s soup into a third person’s face, and chaos ensued. 

Laura looked on with fondness as her four friends flung bits of food at each other. This was going to be their fifth year together and she was going to make it better than ever – again.


	2. Carmilla May Not Like Korra, But Asami Does

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla is broody and gay, Asami is gay and in denial, and Laura is tiny and gay.   
> Gayyyyyyyy ladiessss

Carmilla snuck out the back door of her Potions class, again. She could always get away with ditching Potions because the Potions Master, conveniently also the new Head of Slytherin House and her Mother, was never around for lower-level classes like the one Carmilla was in, and the substitute professors never lectured for the entire period. Most students used the extra time after the substitutes finished to do their homework, but Carmilla would rather eat her own fingers than listen to her pathetic classmates discuss the answers to meaningless questions about meaningless potions. She would much rather slip into whatever lecture was happening in the Astronomy room. Astronomy was a subject with real potential and thought-provoking insight. She took Stars and How They Relate to Us out of her back pocket and returned to the section on the scale of some stars compared to others. She was just getting to an interesting paragraph about nebulae when a dark-skinned mass whizzed past her and bumped her into the wall.

“Ow! Hey, watch where you’re….going…” Carmilla trailed off, recognizing the apologetic smile looking down at her.

“We’ve met before, haven’t we, cutie,” she asked, confusion written all over her face. 

Korra looked around her, similarly confused. “Who, me?” she responded out of breath, pointing to herself, “I, uh, I don’t think so, unless we’ve met before? In which case, I’m sorry for forgetting! And sorry for running into you, I’m not too great at names and even worse at being on tim –“ 

“Ugh, quit your yammering, chocolate shake. I know we’ve met before, stop pretending that we haven’t.” Carmilla muttered, eyes narrowed and shoulders tensed like a cat preparing to pounce. Korra blinked. Chocolate shake? Who was this girl and why did she think they knew each other? Why was she so furious? More importantly, why did she call Korra a chocolate shake?

“I remember you now, Kyoshi. Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you did to my friends back in Austria. I know who and what you are, and if you have any intention of exposing me, and what I am, I won’t think twice before ripping out your liver and feeding it to my brother’s pet snake.”

Korra was completely lost. “I’m sorry I seriously don’t kn—“

“Shut up!” Carmilla hissed, throwing her fisted hand down her side. “I’m warning you, Kyoshi. That is your name, right? You’ll be much better off leaving me alone and so long as you do so, I won’t hurt you or any of your precious little clan of hags.” Carmilla stormed off, leaving Korra trying frantically to recall what it was she’d done to the beautiful – and terrifying – girl who just threatened her…hag…friends? Korra’s friends didn’t look like hags, she didn’t think. And what was a “Kyoshi”? Korra turned and quickly made her way to the dining room, where she was sure Bolin was already stuffing his face, even though it was a good hour and a half before dinner. Maybe he would know more about this mysterious – and yet, uncomfortably familiar – dark-haired girl. 

**************************

The dining hall was mostly empty, except for a couple of enthusiasts getting a head start on dinner. Korra chuckled to herself when she noticed Bolin at the Gryffindor table by himself, his cheeks puffy with too big of a bite of something. He was one of those lucky people who could anything, at any time, as much as he wanted, and never have any negative repercussions. Korra would never tell him, but she envied him for that. 

 

She walked over to where he was sitting and plopped herself down next to him on the bench. The tables weren’t full of food, but he’d managed to scrounge up himself a decent sandwich. Korra slapped him on the back and he almost choked on his mouthful. He would never tell her, but she was incredibly strong. 

“Hey Bolin, enjoying your post-snack-time snack, I see?” she said, 

He nodded happily, before grabbing his large goblet of water and taking a swig, to wash it down. 

“I have a question for ya,” Korra continued, anxious to get some answers, “you wouldn’t happen to know what a Kyoshi is and/or why someone would possibly mistake me for one?” 

Bolin looked confused. He finally swallowed. “No, no I can’t say that I do, why?”

“Well, someone bumped into me today and called me a ‘Kyoshi’ and threatened to feed me my spleen or something if I exposed who she was.”

“Who did?! Did they hurt you? I’ll take ‘em down, Bolin-style!” He punched a large fist into a large palm. 

“No, no that won’t be necessary,” Korra waved him off. He and his brother would always be there for her, and she was glad they would be, even if she knew she could probably take this girl on herself.

“No, she seemed scared of me, like I did something or knew something that I shouldn’t have and it affected her really badly,” Korra reflected, “which is too bad, I wouldn’t ever want anyone to be scared of me like that.”

Bolin raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? Because I’m pretty sure you said just the opposite about everyone on the Slytherin Quidditch team the other day. You were like, ‘Dude, Bolin, I’m gonna intimidate those snakes so bad they’re gonna hop off their brooms and start running to their mommies – on foot!’”

Korra laughed heartily, remembering her conversation between the two brothers and Danny. They’d all been pretty pumped about their game against Slytherin and said some things they probably shouldn’t own up to in public. Especially considering that game was a little ways off, still. 

“You know what I mean! I just hope she’s okay. Plus, I don’t really want to have my spleen fed to me. I’ve heard spleen tastes horrible.”

“Actually, it’s not too bad,” Bolin shrugged, picking up his sandwich again, “If you get enough seasoning on it, it just tastes like chicken.” Korra made a face and shoved him, making him miss his sandwich and take a huge chomp out of the air. He pouted, and shoved her back with his shoulder. 

Korra got up and made her way to the dormitory. Maybe Bolin was onto something. Maybe that girl was just a Quidditch player and was trying to scare Korra out of her wits. Korra grinned mischieviously. Let her be scared, Korra thought smugly, she better be! We’re going to beat Slytherin so bad, they’ll want to eat their own spleens instead of face the humiliation of the papers the next day. Which is gross, but whatever.

*******************************************

Asami was good at a lot of things. She excelled in all of her classes and always looked fabulous. She was also a genuinely wonderful person with a massive heart and generous personality; a rare combination that really only Asami could pull off. Most people knew who she was, and no one could say a mean thing about her – which wasn’t a problem anyways, because no one ever really wanted to. Asami was beautiful, she was kind, she was talented, she was a certified genius, and she was wealthy, even if she would never admit it to anyone. Asami was not, however, prepared for being gay. 

She couldn’t quite pinpoint when she realized, but she knew why. Or, she told herself, why. She blamed Quidditch for her realization that she liked women, even though deep down she was pretty sure she’d always been gay and just never quite owned up to it. But Quidditch had a certain charm to it – it was brutal, of course, but it just looked so, freeing. The players always looked so ecstatic whenever they won a match, even if some of their smiles lacked several teeth. Asami loved the way they cheered together, lifting their muddied, broken limbs into the air and chanting until they lost their voices. She was especially drawn to the players with longer hair, athletically toned and slender arms, powerful legs, intense eyes with just a hint of waterproof eyeliner…yeah, she blamed Quidditch. Or rather, female Quidditch players. She attended every single match – whether or not Ravenclaw was playing – in the six years that she’d attended Hogwarts.

Of course, she would never tell anyone, though. She was a Sato, and as such, needed to marry a fine young gentlemen from some foreign country, have one daughter and one son, and live happily ever after in some prison with eight stories and way too many pictures of famous people. It was also true that she could definitely respect the male population. She wouldn’t call herself bisexual, but perhaps she could call herself biromantic. Well, not even that, really. Maybe, bi-appreciative? She shook her head. Anyways. The point was that Asami had made the firm decision to find a guy who wouldn’t annoy her too much, who maybe would look the other way if she grew wealthy enough to hire a very attractive, lesbian maid for their mansion, and would please her father, the President of the Ministry of Magic. And no woman was ever going to stop her from doing that. Which was why being best friends with Korra was so freaking difficult. 

Korra was the best kind of best friend a straight girl could ask for. She was fun, she had a way of making anyone feel like they were worth something, she had another way of setting up her guy friends with her girl friends, and she was unfailingly loyal. 

Korra was not, however, the ideal best friend for a closeted lesbian. Or, a closeted, homosexual, homoromantic, bi-appreciative, heterosocial…..for Asami Sato. Asami loved Korra, dearly, but recently, she was finding herself liking Korra, too. And that was bad. Very, very bad. For a number of reasons: 1) the whole “lesbian for my best friend” aesthetic was a little too trashy for Asami’s liking; 2) Korra was extremely straight…wasn’t she? 3) they’d both dated Mako for a little while, and though Asami was into her relationship with Mako mostly for the respect she gained for dating an attractive man, Korra really seemed to like Mako. Their romantic relationship only lasted a few months – the two had too much passion and too little compassion for each other, especially on Mako’s side – but it was enough to ingrain into Asami’s mind the image of what she would never have with either a Mako, or a Korra: mutual feelings. 

Asami sighed. How had this whole train of thought even started? She should’ve been focusing on the Transfiguration’s project sitting in front of her, but somehow she’d wasted the last forty minutes thinking about Korra and how she looked in her Quidditch practice jersey the day before. Her more-than-platonic thoughts about Korra weren’t a new thing, but recently, they’ve started coming more often and with more depth. She looked at the clock and silently cursed herself for letting so much time slip by. She leaned back in her chair in an attempt to stretch out the knot that had formed over the past week of projects and tests, and returned to her Transfigurations. 

***********************************

It’s not that Laura didn’t like Astronomy…she just, you know, would rather be anywhere else. She’d originally signed up for the course because her dad mentioned over summer break how he’d wished that he knew the names of more constellations than just the Big Dipper. She thought that it would be a great bonding thing, them going out and learning the constellations together. She didn’t know how boring the lectures would be at the time she’d signed up for it, though. Nor how much homework the class entailed. Some of the other people in the class offered getting together in a study group and she’d gratefully accepted, but found herself falling behind even with them holding her hand. 

Defense Against the Dark Arts: now, that was a subject. She was short for a fifth year, and yes, she was skinny and okay fine she was also a little squeamish when it came to blood and guts, but she could handle herself. She had a knack for defensive spells and charms, and understood potions well enough. But Astronomy? Not so much. It was all too grand, too abstract. There wasn’t enough adrenaline or thrill to make a worthwhile headline. 

That’s what Laura wanted to do: make headlines. Her dream job would be to work at the Daily Prophet, exposing the dirtiest, funniest and most exciting stories behind the scenes of worldwide wizarding affairs to the regular magic folk population. Those moving pictures were pretty cool, too. Her dad nearly fell out of his chair when she showed him the Daily Prophet for the first time. “It’s like black-and-white ‘jiffs’ on a page!” he’d said, gently stroking the paper to make sure it was real. Laura was so enthralled by the journalistic possibilities of working for a magical newspaper that she didn’t even correct him for mispronouncing “gifs”. 

Her dad was non-magic, but was ecstatic upon learning that witches and wizards existed and that his daughter was in fact a witch. He was less than ecstatic, though, to find out that there were bad witches and wizards, and hundreds of scary magical creatures. His two requirements for allowing Laura to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were that she needed to learn several ways of non-magic self-defense, just in case, and second, that he come with her in some way. It just so happened that the school was looking for a Groundskeeper around the same time as Laura’s invitation to the school, and he jumped at the opportunity.

At first, Laura was a little embarrassed about being “muggle-born” and about her “muggle”  
father living as the school Groundskeeper, but eventually, she grew to enjoy having her dad around. Not only did she become adept in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Krav Maga, and Kung Fu, which was kind of awesome, but she got to have her dad around at a very strange private school. He always knew how to cheer her up, and he made a mean hot cocoa. 

Hot cocoa…mmm. Laura’s stomach growled at the thought. She looked around, hoping no one heard. Nope. Everyone was too engrossed in the really fascinating lecture on big red stars, apparently called Red GIants. Clever. 

Opal, one of her new study group friends, seemed particularly interested in Red Giants becauset those were more likely to form black holes, Laura thought. Or was that White Giants? Or was there even such a thing as White Giants? Laura didn’t care. She could understand that things like black holes were cool and like, massive, or something, but not cool enough to deem a two-hour lecture worth paying attention to.   
Instead, she scanned the room, looking for potential candidates to star as inspiration for her next doodle. A sliver of light streamed into the room and quickly disappeared as the door in the back of the room opened and closed. Laura strained her eyes to try and discern the dark figure that had slipped into the class so late into the presentation. The room was dark, so as to allow the class to fully appreciate the glowing pictures of stars being shown up onto the wall, but Laura could tell that the extremely tardy figure was a girl. A pretty girl. She craned her neck to try and catch a glimpse of the girl’s face as she grabbed a seat along the back wall of the room. The girl moved with grace, even as she propped her legs up onto the empty seat in front of her. Laura had to cover her mouth to prevent herself from gasping when she saw the girl’s face: it was….it was….

Laura couldn’t think of any word that fit the description other than perfect. The contrasts between her thick, dark hair and eyebrows with her porcelain face drew Laura in and kept her there, entranced. Her neck draped like silk from a sharp jawline into strong shoulders, which framed the rest of her body with a firm elegance that left Laura breathless. She found herself wondering what the rest of the body looked like under that lacy black blouse and skin-tight leather pants, but quickly shook the thought out of her mind. 

The girl must have felt Laura’s gaze, for she turned her direction and instantly caught Laura’s eyes. Laura gulped as the girl’s mouth opened slightly, and raised an eyebrow in interest. Laura’s face flushed and she whipped her head forward, her heart ramming itself against her ribcage, desperate to look back at the girl from heaven.

The rest of Astronomy seemed to pass by in a blur. Every seventy seconds (Laura timed it so that it wasn’t exactly a minute, because that would be creepy), Laura would stretch, drop a pencil, sneeze, or do some other completely ridiculous thing in order to sneak a glance backwards in hopes of catching the other girl looking back at her. The teacher finally excused them and Laura practically ran out of the room, anxious to see the girl’s face up close. She waited outside the classroom until every student had passed by, disappointed. The beautiful, dark-haired girl was nowhere to be found. Laura huffed and sulked back to her dormitory. Well, she guessed she would just have to wait until next class to see the mysterious girl again. Strangely enough, Laura got excited about her next Astronomy class.


	3. Tiny Gay Laura Ships Korrasami

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura daydreams and is gay. Korra is also gay *surprise* but no, no she isn't. Being gay is okay for Laura but Korra isn't Laura. And Korra doen't like Asami, that would be weird.   
> And Carmilla freaks out about Kyoshi.

“Are you gonna eat that, or…” Korra asked through a mouthful of pasta, pointing to Laura’s untouched plate of Caesar salad. 

“Uh, no, probably not. Go ahead,” Laura responded dreamily, one arm propped itself under her chin and the other lazily swirled around a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Korra had only ever seen Laura like this one other time, after Gryffindor’s Quidditch match against Hufflepuff a few years ago. Back then, Laura was often caught spacing out and probably daydreaming about Danny Lawrence. The two tried dating for a few weeks, but their personalities just never clicked. They were still good friends and hung out a lot, but Korra didn’t suspect it was Danny who was making Laura phase out like she was. Korra swallowed her pasta and took Laura’s plate. She didn’t like salad but Mako had insisted she try to eat healthier for the sake of the team. 

After forcing down a few forkfuls of flavorless green crunchy stuff, Korra tried following Laura’s gaze and ended up looking at the Slytherin table. Korra stopped chewing. Slytherin was their biggest rival, there was no way Laura could be oogling after one of them. She looked back at Laura, whose eyes were closed. 

“Laura….who are you –“ 

“Shhh, she’s right about to kiss me and tell me I’m her forever girl.” Laura kept her eyes squeezed shut. “I’m in the middle of a really good daydream, don’t ruin it.”

Okay, so Korra was right about the daydream, but she hoped she was wrong about the subject of the daydream being from Slytherin. “Wait but Laura, who is it? I will only approve Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, or Hufflepuffs.”

Laura briefly opened one eye and smiled coyly at Korra. “So, if it’s not either of those, what happens?

Korra raised an eyebrow playfully. “Well, I probably shouldn’t encourage teacher-student relationships, but if it’s Professor Beifong I guess I can’t shun you for daydreaming.”

“Oh!” Laura opened both her eyes and smacked her friend’s tattooed bicep. “Come now Korra, would it absolutely kill you if I found a Slytherin attractive?”

“Perhaps not kill, but maim or seriously injure, yes. Yes it would.” 

“Well then I guess you get a head start on making friends with Pema in the hospital wing, because this girl isn’t your average ten. She’s a solid twenty,” Laura smirked, “Heck, you might even find her cute, too. She’s like, exactly your type.” 

Korra’s eyebrows crouched at the comment. “What do you mean, my type?”

Laura held the upper hand, now. “Oh, you know, long, dark and wavy hair, mysterious background, probably wealthy, great taste in clothing…” 

“What are you talking about?” Korra snapped, though her ears started to burn a little. “I don’t have a crush on anyone right now, and I don’t even know any guys who fit that description!”

“Never mind,” Laura sighed, “Just finish your salad and leave me to my daydreams.” Laura closed her eyes again. She saw the way Korra looked at Asami, and she saw the way Asami looked back. Unfortunately, this was going to have to be something that Korra and Asami figured out on their own. She didn’t know Asami too well but from what Korra spoke of her, she must be a pretty amazing woman. Although, probably not as beautiful as whoever it was that waltzed into her life the other day in Astronomy and was mysteriously absent from the Slytherin dining table.

 

***********************

Carmilla rushed to the library. Hags weren’t supposed to be allowed into this school anymore – but then again, neither were vampires. The last time she had seen a hag...it wasn’t pretty. Coming from a blood-sucking being of the living dead, that was bad news. Carmilla shuddered at the words “living dead”. She hadn’t directly fed from a human in weeks, and hadn’t killed one in almost a century, but that didn’t mean she felt any less horrible about the fact that she was, indeed, a vampire. She still, unfortunately, had killed some people.  
She bit her lip, trying to bring herself out of these depressing thoughts. These kinds of thoughts were always within arm’s reach, but coming to Hogwarts had made it difficult to think about anything else.   
Carmilla wasn’t always a vampire. Some people are born vampires, some are born half-vampires – though, Carmilla couldn’t see how someone would want to breed with a vampire in the first place – and there were those unfortunate few who, like herself, were turned vampires by just enough of a bite that wouldn’t entirely kill the person, but would change their bodies’ chemistry until their heart no longer pumped human blood but dead, vampiric blood. Carmilla frowned. She didn’t think vampire’s hearts pumped at all, but she’d been told once, by a very special someone, that they could “feel her heartbeat” as they lay across her chest. And so, out of desperation, Carmilla clung to those words for the rest of her dead life.   
Ugh, she thought, I’m such a nostalgic idiot. I need to focus on this whole hag problem.   
The library should have some answers. Hags weren’t supposed to live as long as vampires, so what was the old creep Kyoshi doing in Hogwarts now, a hundred years after their first encounter? Carmilla didn’t want some age-old, human-devouring freak to mess up her and Will’s hopes of getting along unsuspected. Plus, if a hag – a really, really good looking hag, at that – was able to get into the school, along with Carmilla and her stone-cold family, there was no telling who (or what) else lurked within the great stone walls of the castle.   
Carmilla slid into the library and practically ran to the nearest shelf of books. She had no idea how anything in the giant place was organized, but she was bound to figure it out. 

 

***************************

Korra didn’t know why, but she was a little bugged at Laura for her little comment about her “type”. Was that a play on Mako? He was definitely dark-haired and mysterious, but not necessarily the most fashionable. Plus, that was a long time ago and they were far from getting back together in a romantic relationship. They were great friends, and that was all. So then who was Laura referencing? Did someone have a crush on her and she was totally oblivious? No one came to mind. 

Except Asami.

Asami was dark-haired, had an incredibly complicated and mysterious background, had impeccable taste in clothing….was Laura implying that she was Korra’s type? Korra’s heart pinched a little at the thought. Part of her was relieved that Laura could see there was tension between Asami and herself, and the other part was furious. No, Korra thought, she can’t be gay. And neither is Asami. The brief moment of relief fluttered to the bottom of her stomach and solidified into a small pit, 

The more she thought about it, the more upset she became. Laura is perfectly fine dating whoever she wanted to, and Korra didn’t judge, but just because Laura dated girls didn’t mean she had the right to set Korra up with one. Especially when the one she’d been set up with was Asami – who was, by definition of being a Sato, incredibly straight and incredibly out of her league, anways.

She was surprised at how anxious she’d become. Was there more to Laura’s implication than she realized?

Korra shook her head. It must just be pre-practice stress. She groaned when she realized that she shouldn’t have eaten pasta. Today’s training schedule included a lot of fitness, and Korra had to be focused in order to maintain her lead in every drill.

 

******************

Korra entered the common room to find Laura sprawled out on the rug in front of the fireplace, clad in owl slippers and flannel pajamas. It was obvious that she had been there a while; textbooks and notes were strewn across all the faded red furniture, and she had three empty mugs on the coffee table next to her. Her tongue poked out as she lay on her stomach, intensely studying her Defense Against the Dark Arts flashcards. Korra smiled. Laura studied like this before every exam. Korra walked over to her dedicated friend and plopped down on the floor next to her. 

“Big test tomorrow?”

“Hmm? Oh, hey Korra. Yeah, my Defense Against the Dark Arts midterm is coming up. How was practice?” Laura smiled as she picked up a particularly scribbly pile of notes.

“Defense Against the Dark Arts? But, aren’t these Astronomy flashcards?” 

“Oh, um, yeah, well my Defense Against the Dark Arts test is what I should be studying for but I can’t   
find myself getting excited for anything but Astronomy these days.”

Korra looked at her quizzically. “That’s weird, you used to love Defense Against the Dark Arts. Are you changing your mind about a Defense Against the Dark Arts emphasis?” 

“No, I still love all my classes with Prof. Beifong, but I’m really enjoying the stuff about the stars n’ stuff,” Laura said, absentmindedly flipping through the pages in the massive textbook before her.  
“You are really enjoying ‘stars and stuff’.” Korra smirked and narrowed her eyes, unconvinced. What was going on?

“Um, yeah, they’re like, pretty and stuff, I guess,” Laura shifted and propped herself up on an elbow. 

Though she was looking at the pages of the book she was thumbing through, Korra could tell she was thinking about something else.

“Just yesterday you were complaining to me about how Astronomy is the most boring class in the entire Milky Way,” Korra poked her friend in the arm. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with that new Slytherin girl, would it?” Korra teased.

“Hmmm… wait, what?” Laura blinked out of her daze and shut the book.

“You know, ‘dark hair, mysterious background’…the one across the hall that you were staring at during dinner this evening, and daydreaming about scandalously?”

“What? No it doesn’t have anything to do with her!” Laura blushed, and frantically opened the book back up to whatever page she was previously spacing out on. “Anyways, stop distracting me I have an Astrono – I mean a Defense Against the Dark Arts test that I need to study for and you’re not helping!” The book landed on a page with a small scrap of paper marking a certain constellation. Korra could only make out a few doodles of hearts and some scratched out sketches of some girl with dark hair and awesome eyebrow game. 

Korra chuckled, “Well then, I’d suggest a good start would be to put away that little doodle-porn of yours and start studying from an actual Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.” Laura’s blush spread to her ears and she slammed Galaxies and Other Giant Things shut again. “Ohh, just go to bed!” Laura squeaked, and hurried to shove the Astronomy book into her keychain-covered backpack. 

Korra slung her own bag over her shoulder and trudged up the stairs to her dormitory. She was in desperate need of a shower after today’s practice. Though she was a Seeker and didn’t require as much physical training as some of the other players, she was as competitive as any and never let anyone beat her time on the laps around the Quidditch pitch. In fact, it was her idea that the team start running the laps, rather than flying them. Mako was up for the new challenge – if not only to impress the fan girls in the stands who, creepily, always watched them train – but Bolin had been a little more difficult to get motivated. Korra had to admit, though, that Danny had made it harder for her to keep her spot in the lead. Danny was a fierce competitor with an incredibly built body, and Korra knew it was only a matter of time before she caught up to Korra’s record. Korra liked Danny, and she knew she could beat the redheaded amazon in any kind of weight training, but that didn’t mean she was entirely thrilled about letting her take the lead on the track. Which meant that Korra had nearly ran herself into the ground today in preparation for the fitness tests coming up next week. 

After a reasonably long shower, Korra flopped onto the bed and thought more about how flattered she was when Asami complimented her on her uniform – in a totally platonic way, of course – until she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, according the the HP wiki, hags and vampire are both classified as "beings", not creatures! This was one reason why centaurs and mermaids prefer to be called magical creatures. THE MORE YOU KNOW, YA KNOW?


	4. What The Heck Is A Doppleganger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla spends more time researching Kyoshi and learns some thangs.  
> More Hollstein fluff.  
> LaF and Asami BROTP.

Several long hours of reading and studying, again, with very little information. This was the third time this week she’d spent most of her day in the library, researching Kyoshi and other hags. Carmilla groaned as she slammed the most recent book shut. Yes, Carmilla could technically live for a very long time, but that didn’t mean she wanted to spend the rest of her life in this godforsaken library, reading about creepy things and scary creatures. She looked at the clock next to her; she only had a few minutes before that Astronomy class with the disgustingly cute girl with honey-brown hair. Carmilla wanted to go to that class again, in the hopes of playing that adorable game where they both pretend to not be looking at each other, but she had a nagging feeling that this hag Kyoshi was going to prove something of a problem. She had to find at least one helpful manuscript or something before she could leave the library feeling accomplished. 

She was in the right section, she thought. In the past week, she’d read about a dozen books on werewolves – which, by the way, ew – and skimmed through several passages on centaurs, unicorns, and other magical beasts, but relatively nothing about hags. According to Carmilla’s own knowledge, Kyoshi was apparently alive over a hundred years ago, and lived in Russia with a few others of her kind. Carmilla couldn’t quite remember the others’ names, only a Babayaga, and perhaps even a Cordelia Mess…something or other.

Perhaps, she wasn’t looking in the right section. Hags were considered magical beings, not magical beasts, like centaurs or merpeople. Carmilla strolled over to the section where she remembered seeing a book titled Beings of Evil Nature and prayed she didn’t stumble across anything vampire-related. Carmilla hated reading about vampires. For some reason, she couldn’t relate to any of them. Dracula was kind of a jerk, and the muggles went down a completely unforgiveable direction with the Cullens. 

Carmilla was about to give up and head to that Astronomy lecture, when something caught her eye. It was an extremely dusty old thing titled Old Mother Hubbard and Snow White – Fairytales, or Hagtales? Carmilla blew off some of the dust before pulling it off the shelf. The pages were thick and had a starchy texture. She scrunched her nose at the smell; it was as if the author had used the blood of an ancient animal as ink. If this pile of scrap didn’t have anything useful, Carmilla was going to burn if and save the rest of the world from the awful odor. 

Carmilla ran her eyes over the faded print. She was surprised at the content: according to this book, the Evil Queen in the story of Snow White was actually a hag, who used a beautification spell to change her appearance from a warty, wrinkly old with to a curvy, pale-skinned, middle-aged woman. Before she married a king in Medieval Europe, he name was Malodora Grymm, and the story about the poisoned apple came about when she heard of a young maiden with a beauty more entrancing than her own, and tried to kill the girl with a poisoned apple. Ironically, the maiden was a vampire and wasn’t attracted to the apple, but rather to the woman in front of her. So, the price for the hag’s vanity was to be sucked dry by this young, nameless vampire.

Carmilla paused, thinking. So, maybe Kyoshi had a similar potion that rid her of her warts and traded them for that attractive, caramel-colored body that Carmilla ran into. That would explain the appearance, but the fact of the matter was that Kyoshi shouldn’t be alive, anyways. Carmilla read on.

There were other stories of famous hags: as the title suggested, apparently Old Mother Hubbard was actually a hag who lured in children and wild animals to their doom. Another quaint story included a hag who used to eat children and hang their skins on the walls of her cave. Carmilla wanted to throw up. Fortunately, this hag had recently died due to old age. And, to Carmilla’s relief, there was a section on one Annis Kyoshi, though Carmilla could only read so much of this particular biography before wanting to cry. 

Carmilla knew the story all too well. Kyoshi and her friend Babayaba were both Russian hags who would take turns capturing children that they could share. One particular day, while Kyoshi was out selling pasties and sweets to naïve children returning home from the market, she noticed a group of teenagers who were obviously lost. She offered the group free pasties, and a few of them happily obliged. One of them, a pale, dark-haired girl, avoided the candy and tried to convince the others to keep walking. However, when Kyoshi suggested the group stay at her place for the night, the majority of the group jumped at the offer. The dark-haired girl followed them to the hag’s hut but by the time she’d opened the door, the hags had killed all of them. 

Carmilla clenched her fists at the memory. Her friends should have known better, but there was something in the way the hag spoke that must have put them in a trance. Admittedly, she was going to probably hand over at least one of her friends in the group to her Mother, anyways, but still. Being eaten by a hag was a gruesome fate. She remembered going into a state of fury, destroying basically everything in the house and almost destroying the two hags. They’d easily escaped – they possessed a strange sort of magic that allowed them to vanish before her very eyes. 

Carmilla was, at this point, emotionally drained. She was about to put the book back on the shelf, when she read something peculiar in a footnote. In fine print, at the bottom of the page, there was a small description of Kyoshi.

There was something in the description that Carmilla did not know. According to legend, Kyoshi had human parents. She was one of a long line of dopplegangers, which meant that her blood was not only incredibly magical, but monetarily valuable beyond most material things. However, Kyoshi’s own blood contained an impurity that manipulated her genetic code and turned her into a hag, rather than a human, like her parents. Eventually, someone discovered her nature as a doppleganger, and murdered her so they could take a pint of the blood for the black market. 

Carmilla sat back in her chair, confused. How could a hag be born of human parents? One of them must have had the doppleganger blood and passed it onto Kyoshi, but which one was it? Also, if Kyoshi was dead, that must mean that the girl Carmilla ran into was a doppleganger…but, that had to mean that the line of doppleganger blood continued through Kyoshi and – no offense or anything – but Kyoshi was a hag, one of the ugliest and most evil beings on the planet. What human would breed with a hag? 

Carmilla huffed out a heavy breath of confusion and made her way over to the Astronomy hall. Her brain needed a break from all the dark and creepy things she’d been looming over for the past few days, and heaven knows the best way to distract yourself from evil is to stare at a honey-blonde ball of cuteness while they fluster themselves with Astronomy.

 

***************************

Laura was twiddling her quill nervously. That girl should have walked in by now! The last time she snuck into the classroom, she was exactly forty-five minutes late – halfway through the class. The time was now five minutes past halfway and Laura was getting anxious. What if that was just a one-time thing? Did the girl get weirded out by Laura’s constant sneak peeks and glances, and drop the class? Or worst of all, was the girl just a figment of Laura’s imagination? Did she make it all up?

Laura dropped her quill. It clattered to the ground in an obnoxious amount of noise. A few pairs of eyes looked over and watched her awkwardly scramble across her desk and reach to the ground with her scrawny arms. Her face flushed as she realized she couldn’t quite get to the quill from where she was at. There was a bar that inconveniently interrupted her already short arms from reaching all the way down. She tried folding a piece of paper into a pinching device and ended up moving the quill further out of reach. Another brilliant idea including using her notebook as a shovel resulted in both pushing the quill even further, and also dropping the notebook. She shuffled in her seat as quietly as she could, but she could tell that gradually more and more pairs of eyes turned to watch her struggle for that stupid quill. She didn’t even like quills. Muggle pens were a zillion times easier to use. She slouched down and tried to wiggle her arm under the bar, but that was an extremely uncomfortable position to try to reach as slouched and cramped as she was, and eventually, she gave up on that technique as well. 

A few students giggled as she got out of her chair completely and crawled under her chair on her hands and knees. Damn stupid quill, Laura cursed, why don’t wizards and witches just use mechanical pencils?! 

The door in the back of the room opened just slightly, spilling a wedge of light directly into Laura’s face. Laura looked up from the ground and froze, mid-grab. The girl was similarly frozen, confused as to why the honey-blonde was kneeling on the ground underneath her desk. 

Laura gasped and jumped up, slamming her head into that goddamned bar. At this point, the entire class – including the professor – had stopped and looked at the bundle of calamity that was Laura Hollis. 

Laura felt a throbbing in the sore spot where she’d hit her head, and rubbed it gently as she climbed back into her seat. A student in the row next to her leaned down and picked up the notebook she’d forgotten to grab, as well. He whispered, “Next time, just ask,” as he handed her the notebook. 

The professor looked at Laura, amused. “Are you okay? That was quite the bang.” 

Laura’s blush had seeped down her neck, at this point. “Yeah,” her voice cracked, “Yeah, um, I’m fine.”

“Well, then why don’t I take this time to officially invite Carmilla into our classroom – Class, the girl holding the door open is Carmilla, and she is a great resource if any of you need a study aid,” the professor said, before clearing his throat and getting back to the lecture.

The girl, who was apparently named Carmilla, closed the door silently and walked over to an empty spot in the back of the classroom. Laura watched in awe as Carmilla gracefully slid into the chair, without struggle. 

Once settled, Carmilla looked over at Laura and winked. Laura, who at this point was no longer red but a glorious shade of purple, gulped and dropped the quill she had just retrieved. 

The guy next to her just shook his head and handed it to her, wordlessly. Laura whispered an embarrassed “thank you” and huddled back in her 

Carmilla laughed to herself, and shook her head gently. Laura was, without a doubt, the biggest – or, tiniest – and most adorable dork she’d ever seen. She waited for Laura to get down and pick up her ruffled quill before giving her another small smile. This time, Laura returned it, and added a shy wave. This was going to be fun, Carmilla thought, Definitely worth missing the attendance points in Potions.

 

********************************

LaFontaine thought this Asami chick was a little too cocky for their liking. Who takes upper level Potions for fun? Potions 6 was basically set up for students who, like LaFontaine wanted to pursue a career that directly involved potions. And, if Asami was being honest when she briefly mentioned having a Mechanics’ emphasis, there was no reason for her to be in the class.

Last week, Asami had finished the in-class assignment in half the time she was supposed to be able to. She spent the rest of the class period working on the homework for the class, and LaFontaine remembered looking on at her with nothing less than envy and a little bit of hate. LaFontaine wasn’t one to hate people, but being the first to finish a potion in-class assignment was their shtick, not Asami’s. 

Their current predicament was that Asami was making a lot of progress in today’s lab, and they were making very little. They could either suck it up and ask Asami for help, or they could keep on silently competing and remain very frustrated.

Some other guy in the class, a bozo named Tahno – who she recognized from the Slytherin common room – had managed to set his pot of liquid on fire, and was running around frantically, looking for some sort of extinguisher. As if to make LaFontaine hate her more, Asami was the first to rush to his side and douse out the flame. They were suspicious of her good nature, too. Smart people who did things for the sake of them were basically never nice people, too. Except for, again, themselves. LaFontaine prided themself on being both the smartest scientist and the nicest scientist in their class, and right now, Asami was challenging both of those titles.

LaFontaine returned to their own bubbling cauldron and grunted, frustrated. It shouldn’t be bubbling yet, it should still be simmering. They rechecked the instructions and the temperature, and everything seemed right, except something wasn’t. They cursed under their breath and folded their arms, thinking through every possibility.

“Everything all right?” a woman’s voice asked from behind them. They turned around to find Asami looking at them tentatively. She was wearing a smile but LaFontaine didn’t buy it.

“Yep, all good here,” they responded sharply and turned back to her cauldron, only to find it now frothing and spilling onto the counter. 

“Shit!” they muttered, before lifting the cauldron off of the flame and setting it onto a different stand. Asami wiped up the froth with a rag and threw it into the nearest toxic waste bin. 

“Thanks,” LaFontaine grumbled, looking over at Asami briefly, 

Asami shrugged. “No problem,” she smiled again, a small smile, and walked back over to her own station. LaFontaine still didn’t buy it, but they were grateful for the help. Most people wouldn’t dare get close to the stuff that frothed onto the counter with a ten-foot pole, but Asami threw a rag on it immediately. They frowned, and looked over to where Asami was stationed. 

The tall, honestly gorgeous woman was standing cautiously over a well-used cauldron, stirring the bubbling contents with a glass rod. LaFontaine’s eyebrows raised, she couldn’t be that far along in the potion, already, could she? They decided to dump their own contents into the waste bin and watch Asami for a while. After a few minutes of observation, they could tell that she knew what she was doing. Her delicate fingers deftly handled everything she touched. She moved with a confidence, and smiled with a softness that LaFontaine had to admit, didn’t look fake, as they’d first assumed. Soon, Asami bottled the potion and handed it to Professor Karnstein. Prof. Karnstein sullenly nodded her approval and excused Asami for the rest of the class. Asami bowed graciously, and headed to pack up her things.

LaFontaine sighed and walked over to her, defeated. Not only did Asami manage to be the first person to complete an assignment two weeks in a row, but she also bowed. It was official: Asami was both smarter and more polite than they were. They shuffled up to the black-haired girl and cleared her throat.

“Hey, erm,” they started, scratching the back of their neck, “thanks for helping me out over there, and sorry for being kind of a jerk about it…”

Asami smiled brilliantly. “Oh! No worries, seriously! I’m just glad you don’t hate me anymore.”

“Hate you?” LaFontaine blushed, “Who told you – I mean whoever said – “ 

“It was pretty easy to figure out,” Asami looked embarrassed, “I mean, I didn’t quite know why, but I felt bad nonetheless. I didn’t accidentally spill poison on you or something, did I?”

“No! No, not at all, I was just, you know, a little jealous that you are better than me at everything to do with potions.” 

It was Asami’s turn to blush. “What are you talking about, everyone knows you were just about the replacement potions master, until this freaky old woman showed up.”

“She is freaky, isn’t she?” they laughed, “But unfortunately, I don’t think she’s old enough to not notice how much of a failure my assignment is today.”

“Well hey, why don’t you use my cauldron before I dump the rest of it out? Just fill up a beaker and hand it to her, she’ll never know.”

LaFontaine paused, not expecting that. “Are…are you sure? I don’t want to get you caught, plus I mean I kind of want to know how to do it, too.”

Asami waved her hand. “Of course I’m sure, and if I get caught we’ll just start over on this potion together. Oh, and by the way, the only thing you had gotten wrong was the amount of flies’ wings, which was kind of my fault anyways because I’d taken almost all of it for my own potion.” 

“Oh! Well in that case, you owe me, dontcha?” LaFontaine winked and held out their hand, “I’m LaFontaine, but you can call me LaF for short.”

Asami took the hand and shook it once, firmly. “Asami Sato. I’ll call you LaF if you promise to not judge me by my last name.”

LaF’s eyes about fell out of their head. “You mean, Sato? As in, thee Asami Sato?!”

Asami rolled her eyes and folded her arms roughly, in mock offense. 

“Oh, I mean, yeah, whatever,” LaF coughed and shrugged, “Yeah okay, no judgment and no discussion about being the daughter of the most politically powerful wizard of our age, okay. Deal.”

Asami laughed and handed them a beaker. “Take this and turn in the stupid potion already, I want to work on tonight’s homework and get it over with so I can make it to the Quidditch game.”

LaFontaine chuckled as they filled the beaker with the substance. “Quidditch, eh? I’m not too much of a fan myself, but I usually go with some friends of mine in Hufflepuff. Want to come with us?”

Asami’s smile outshone the rest of her smiles of the day. “I would love to, but can I bring a friend or two of my own?” LaF nodded. “Even if one of them is from Ravenclaw, like myself?”

LaFontaine burst out laughing. “I mean, I could care less. But you may have to hide your like I do if you want to sit with my friends. They can get a little, erm, competitive. Only Danny will be seriously invested in tonight’s Slytherin-Ravenclaw match, but that’s just because she made a bet with Hufflepuff’s keeper that Slytherin would lose.”

Asami was getting more and more excited by the minute. “I’m not always the competitive type, but I can definitely be up for an evening of calling the other players nicknames and throwing popcorn, if that’s what it takes.”

“Perfect,” LaF stoppered the beaker and turned to Asami, beaming. “Thank you, again, this is really awesome of you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Asami made a ‘shoo’-ing motion with her hands, “Now, hurry and turn that in so we can work on our homework!”

LaFontaine smiled as they handed over her beaker to Prof. Karnstein, and bowed respectively after receiving a good mark. Bowing was maybe a little out of their comfort zone, but it was also kind of fun. They liked this Asami chick. Potions was going to run much more smoothly from now on.


	5. Carmilla Is a Useless Lesbian Vampire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hollstein Fluff, LaF/Asami BROTP, minor plot expansion

Carmilla sat herself down in the front seat of the row that the girl named Laura always sat in. She took out her notebook and started writing the note she was going to leave on Laura’s desk as she walked out of the class. It was a good plan, she’d gone over it a hundred times in her head the night before. Ten minutes before the end of class, she would get up and walk out of the class, leave the note on Laura’s desk with a wink, and then wait for Laura to get out of her class so she could ask her out in person. 

For some reason, however, Carmilla couldn’t figure out what to write on the note. This had to be the perfect note, crafted so that it wasn’t too forward, but also got the message across. She looked at what she had so far:

Hi  
My name is Carmilla.  
I think you’re cute  
I’ll be waiting outside for you and I think you should come talk to me.  
-Carmilla

Ew. Carmilla tore the page out of her notebook and crumpled it up. She had to have a little more creativity.

Hey,  
You remind me of the stars  
And I want to touch your hair

 

No, no, no. Not even close. Too much cheese and not enough flirt. Carmilla had no idea being cute was so difficult. She tore through page after page of stupid note after stupid note, never satisfied with what was written.

Most times, when she thought someone was cute, she’d just walk up to them and either buy them a drink or ask them to buy her a drink, and she was solid. With Laura, though, things were different. She wasn’t a one night stand, nor was she one of her Mother’s victims. She was a cute girl with a lot of personality and….something….special. Carmilla hated herself for being such a sap, but there was something unique about Laura that made Carmilla’s cold heart feel like it was beating.

Hey, cutie.  
You seem a little bored with this class, maybe I can  
Help inspire a little motivation?  
Meet me outside and we can talk.  
-Carmilla

It would have to do. There were now only eight minutes left in the class and she wanted to stick to her plan as much as possible. She took a deep breath, smoothed her eyebrows for the thirtieth time, and stood up from her chair. God, she hoped this wasn’t as stupid as she was starting to think it was. She looked up the aisle to where Laura was doodling absentmindedly and couldn’t stop herself from smiling. She wouldn’t say her heart beat, exactly, but twitched a little bit, yes. 

***********************************************

Laura was heartbroken. 

No, no she couldn’t say heartbroken yet. She and Carmilla had never even spoken to each other, how could she have her heart broken by someone she’d never talked to? 

Still, she was really bummed. 

Carmilla hadn’t shown up to class today, and there was a ninety percent chance that it was because Laura was a dork and scared her away. Laura shut her eyes and silently cursed herself for being so clumsy. It was amazing how she could turn picking a quill up off the floor into a fifteen-minute long endeavor, and end up with a massive bruise on the top of her head. 

She leaned forward and rested her head arms on her desk. This was why she was still single, she told herself.

A small scraping feeling on her arms brought her out of her self-loathing. She tilted her head towards the feeling and saw someone trying to slip a note under her forearms. Laura looked up at the person intruding on her personal space in the middle of class and made eye contact with a very flustered Carmilla. 

Laura bolted upright and took the note from Carmilla’s – was it sweaty? – hand. Carmilla gave her a wink – was it just Laura, or was that a really forced wink? – and strode out of the class. 

Laura was flabbergasted. What the heck just happened? In past couple of times Laura had seen her, Carmilla looked totally in control and moved as if she was above the rest of the world. Just then, though, Carmilla looked like she was about to pass out. 

With wide eyes, Laura hurriedly opened the note and scanned the contents a dozen times, until she’d memorized the swoopy handwriting. 

The professor excused the class and Laura rushed to put everything into her bag. She tucked the note into her Astronomy textbook; she was sure she’d memorize it even more later tonight. She nervously tucked her hair behind her ears on her way out the door. Hopefully, Carmilla was still waiting outside, if she stuck to her note.

**************************************

Carmilla paced back and forth, anxiously. She was a nervous wreck and her plan was a disaster. She couldn’t believe how awkward she was: sweaty hands, flickering wink and all. Her leg bounced furiously as she leaned forward on the railing across from the Astronomy classroom. 

Ughhhhhh, Carmilla rolled her eyes, unable to stop the last few minutes from replaying in her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut and covered her face with her hands, resting her body on her elbows. I am SUCH an idiot. Any chances I had at getting her to go out with me are gone now. There’s no WAY she’d even make eye contact with me now, she probably thinks I’m a creep. 

Carmilla sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. The lake below the castle was beautiful this time of evening. The sun hadn’t set just yet, but the moon was high in the sky. Thankfully, it wasn’t close to being full yet, which mean Carmilla had a few weeks before her Mother would ask for her help in whatever grotesque plan she had formed this time. 

Her Mother….she hated her Mother. If Carmilla could have taken Will and left, she would have years ago. Unfortunately, her Mother was about a thousand years older and more powerful than she was herself, which basically meant that if there was ever a miscommunication between the two, her Mother could snap Carmilla’s neck between her thumb and forefinger before Carmilla had the chance to bare her fangs. 

Her Mother was powerful, manipulative, evil – and smart. She was always plotting, always a step ahead. Carmilla wondered what her Mother was planning now. For all she knew, her Mother had already set some devious plan in motion and would ask Carmilla to do something horrible and disgusting in possibly just a few days.

Carmilla chewed on the inside of her lip and leaned further forward on the railing so that her necklace hung straight from her pale neck. Carmilla imagined what it would feel like to let herself lean all the way forward. She would just tip her body slightly, slowly fall from the terrace, and drift down quietly to melt into the large rocks a few stories below, separating the lake from the cliff that held up the castle she stood on now. She frowned at the thought; it was too enticing. 

She took a deep breath through her nose and focused on the soft breeze that kissed her face and nudged her necklace back and forth gently. She’d mastered the art of meditation long ago. Whenever thoughts like jumping off of a cliff or falling asleep at the bottom of the ocean entered her mind, she had to consciously redirect her mind towards thinking about simpler things, things that reminded her of how she lived when she was alive, and not how she was living now that she was dead. The evening breeze would do for now. It carried the scent of a flowered meadow from the cliffs across the lake. Carmilla monitored her breaths, and let her mind wander around that meadow, thinking of all the different colors of flowers that probably grew there. 

A girl with long, honey brown hair entered the meadow in her mind. Carmilla smiled. She allowed the girl to glide through the flowers, which were now all yellow. The girl, Laura, was picking up a lot of the flowers and gathering a huge bunch into her tiny arms. For every handful of flowers Laura picked, a handful would fall off of her pile. Her face was scrunched in concentration, and every once in a while she would stop picking and count how many flowers she’d gotten, before huffing in frustration and going back to pick more. 

Carmilla enjoyed this meditation. She guessed there wasn’t any harm in coming back to this place. 

A small, shaky voice brought her out of her daydream. “Um, ex-excuse me?”

Carmilla whipped around. Laura was standing a few feet away, holding a binder and notebook in the crook of her arms. A small piece of paper was tucked between two of her fingers. 

“Um, hi,” Laura stammered, “Uh, so like, maybe this is totally awkward and it so then totally feel free to like forget that this ever happened, but I have this note for you – I mean, I got this note from you for me, unless it’s not to me and it was for someone else but you accidentally gave it to me, or if your name isn’t actually Carmilla like the note says in which case it’s not from you anyways, but I’m pretty sure your name is Carmilla because that’s what the Astrology professor called you that one time – not that I was like, being weird and watching you or anything…”

Carmilla raised an eyebrow and cocked the corner of her mouth. “Yes, my name is Carmilla.”

“Well then, hi there Carmilla,” Laura blushed, “I’m Laura. But you already knew that, didn’t you? My last name is Hollis in case you didn’t know that. What’s your last name? Er, actually don’t answer that if you don’t want to, I would understand being nervous about me being all weird and stalker-y or something…I just don’t really know how to go about answering your note. Wait, we still haven’t resolved if this note is actually intended for me because I totally wouldn’t feel bad if this was actually meant for a boy or something…”

“Cutie, stop rambling before you hurt yourself,” Carmilla pushed herself off of the railing and slouched. 

“From what I’m gathering,” she forced herself to speak calmly, “it seems like the note wasn’t the best way to reach you. Next time I want to talk to you, what would you rather I do?”

“Oh, uhhh,” Laura tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, effectively bumping into her binder and knocking it to the floor in a messy pile of papers. “Gosh dangit!” Laura muttered.

Carmilla chuckled to herself and bent down to help Laura pick up the spilled notebook paper. “You certainly are quite a handful, aren’t you, cupcake?”

Laura coughed out a nervous laugh. “My dad always said I was ‘cuter than a button and clumsier than the puppy playing with it,’” she said as she shuffled all the papers into her binder without bothering to reorder them. 

“I can agree with at least half of that,” Carmilla looked up briefly, casually handing over a neat stack of notebook papers, “I’m not so sure about the ‘clumsy puppy’ part. I’ve much more of a preference of cats to dogs, but I can make…” her eyes flittered down to Laura’s revealing shirt and smirked, “…exceptions.”  
Laura took the stack gratefully, unsure of how to respond to such obvious – and dangerously sexy – flirting. She swiveled her bag around to her front and shoved the binder and the papers sloppily sticking out into the bag’s biggest pocket. Carmilla stood gracefully and offered Laura her hand.

“Thanks for the help. God, I’m such a klutz,” Laura said as she took the hand. Carmilla easily pulled her up and the tiny girl stumbled forward a little from the swift ascent. Laura’s hand landed on Carmilla’s tricep and Carmilla couldn’t help but notice her feeling her muscles a little before dropping both hands to her sides. 

“My pleasure, cupcake,” Carmilla let her shoulder fall into the column next to her and kicked one of her legs over the other. 

“Uhn, dumm, muh,” Laura’s mouth remained an inch or two open as she struggled to keep her eyes locked with the mysteriously beautiful woman in front of her, and not wandering around the woman’s slender figure balanced sensually against the stone wall. 

Carmilla’s smirk deepened; she was thoroughly enjoying herself. This poor girl was practically slobbering. Carmilla decided she would try to wind this girl up as much as possible. Perhaps, if Carmilla played it right, she could get Laura to do the asking rather than asking Laura out herself.

“So,” Carmilla drawled, pursing her lips, “You were saying? Something about a note that you accidentally received?” 

Laura’s eyes burst out of her head. “Oh, shit! It was an accident? So this note wasn’t intended for me?”

Carmilla tossed her head back, hoping to exaggerate the bounce her curls made when she moved, “No, sweetheart, that note was definitely intended for you.” 

“Thank god. I’ve lived through enough humiliation in the past month that probably would have killed any other human on the planet.”

“You’re not like other humans on the planet, that’s for sure.”

“Thanks…” Laura said. A crease formed on Laura’s forehead. Carmilla had been flirting for a long time, but they hadn’t actually said anything substantial in their confrontation and it was starting to drive Laura mad. 

Several more minutes of non-committal flirting and side-hints passed before Laura gave in.

“HOLY dragon balls. Will you stop torturing me and ask me out?” Laura burst out, knocking the smirk right off Carmilla’s face. “Just get it over with already! I will not let you put me through all this suffering with the note and the flirting and the checking out so that I ask you out. Nope. You are trying to be all sexy and mysterious and unattached but I think it’s time you girl the hell up and ask me! All you’ve gotta say is, ‘we should grab a butterbeer sometime’ or ‘I’d love for you to come with me to the Quidditch game happening tonight’ and –”

“Sounds perfect, how does 5 o’clock sound to you?” Carmilla interrupted, thoroughly amused by the red-faced ball of words unraveling in front of her. 

“I…what?” Laura guffawed.

“Meet me at the Three Broomsticks at 5 o’clock so we can get you all hot and bothered before the game tonight,” Carmilla winked, “Wear something warm, it’s supposed to rain later.” And with that, Carmilla brushed past Laura smoothly, dragging her cold scent of roses and dew with her so that it wafted into Laura’s flustered face.

Some of the notebook papers fell out of Laura’s binder while Laura stared, open-mouthed, at a very content Carmilla as she meandered down the hall, swaying her hips tauntingly. 

*********************

Asami hated being the first one to arrive at a meeting spot, but she hated being the last one even more. And she really wanted to present herself well to LaF’s friends – the two of them had gotten along fabulously since their run-in during Potions, and Asami hoped they would stay good friends. It wasn’t that Asami needed more friends, per se. Opal proved to be a wonderful Ravenclaw roommate, and Korra and the Gryffindor gang were as awesome as ever, but lately Asami found it a little hard to be around them for extended periods of time. Especially around Korra. Too much…tension. 

Anyway. LaF only spoke highly of their friends and Asami was excited for a little change in pace. 

She heard their voice before she saw them. 

“Asami! Asami hey!” LaF hollered down the hall, dragging an exasperated-looking woman with bouncy, curly hair along with them. Asami guessed that was Perry, and recognized the lanky boy that followed to be a Ravenclaw. Asami never held a conversation with him, but she knew he went by the name of JP.

“Asami,” LaFontaine huffed a little as they approached, “This is my g…ood friend Perry, and I’m assuming you’ve already ran into JP at some point or other but in case you don’t know each other, his name is JP.” 

“I’m JP,” the boy adjusted his abnormally large glasses, and shook Asami’s hand, “But, you can call me JP.” 

Asami laughed. “Wait, I didn’t catch that, JP. What was your name again?” 

“I like her,” JP turned to LaFontaine, who rolled their eyes and grabbed Perry’s sleeve again. Asami smiled radiantly. 

“Likewise,” Asami winked at him and turned back to LaF, “Sorry my friend Opal couldn’t come. She and my friend Korra decided to spend the evening studying for their Transfigurations test on Monday, instead.”

LaFontaine shrugged. “Sucks for them. Come on,” they tugged on Perry’s sleeve, “I don’t want to miss the match!”

“Well then why’d you spend so much time getting ready?” Perry sighed and allowed herself to be dragged up the bleachers. 

Asami looked at JP. “When LaF first told me about Perry, I got the feeling that she wore the pants in the relationship. Now, I’m not so sure.” 

JP chuckled. “It depends on the day, honestly. Some days, LaF’s the whipped one. Other days, like today, Perry is." 

“Let’s just pray that one of them finally asks the other out before they graduate.”

“Amen. I can pray for that.”


	6. Laura Is A Lightweight And Korra Is In Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Hollstein fluff. You can never get enough of it.  
> *Korrasami implications but ugh Korra is so closeted to herself it adorable and disgusting and frustrating  
> *Also, Opal is such a bro.
> 
> My intentions for this chapter were kind of to evoke feelings that make you feel like *grunting noises* and *gargling noises* and *throwing your computer/phone/tablet across the room*. Let me know if I was successful!

Laura couldn’t believe she was actually going through with this. Not only was she entirely out of her league with this Carmilla girl, but the last time she’d had alcohol she’d…done some things. She shook her head as memories of dancing on a tabletop with a massive stuffed animal and chanting something like “pizza or death!” flickered in and out of her mind. 

Of course, butterbeer was a much, much milder substance than what she was chugging that summer night, but still. The last thing Laura wanted to happen on this date was to lose control and forget everything that happened the next morning. Laura wanted to remember tonight; she was incredibly nervous, but she could tell that only incredible things could come out of this little thing with Carmilla.   
Carmilla. Laura picked up her pace when she remembered who she was going to meet. There was so much Laura anticipated finding out: Who was Carmilla? What the heck kind of name was ‘Carmilla’, anyways? It was a beautiful name, but it sounded like the kind of name that carried baggage or an intense love of Arabian horses. Anyway, where was she from, and why hadn’t Laura seen her before? 

Laura paused. That would be a great lead-in to a flirt: “So, pretty lady, why haven’t I seen you around these parts before?” Yes, good.

She realized that she probably should have been planning other good flirts before she got to the bar. She began to compile a list of flirtatious things to say in case the conversation ran dry. She was having a hard time coming up with things other than “Hey girl, I like the way your blouse doesn’t cover your belly button,” or, “Wanna play a video game? I wouldn’t just let you win,” or other horrible flirts. Wait, did other people call them “flirts”, like she did? What else could they be called? Technically they’re not, necessarily, all pick-up lines, and they wouldn’t be called “flirtatious phrases” because that’s just dumb.

Focus, Laura, focus! Laura thought, The Three Broomsticks is right in front of you! Pull it together, girl. NO mercy! You’re gonna go in there and make her swoon faster than a straight, tween Muggle girl at a One Erection concert! Or whatever that boy band is called. Laura took a deep breath and turned the rusted doorknob to the restaurant. 

Here goes nothing….

********************************

“Korra, you in there?” Opal waved her delicate fingers in front of Korra’s face. 

“Mm? Oh, yeah, yes, sorry. What’d you say?” Korra blinked and refocused onto her study buddy’s fluorescent green eyes. 

Opal shook her head and chuckled. They’d been studying for a while – the game had ended by now – but they were still a long ways away from where they needed to be before their test on Monday. “Korra,” she said lovingly, “You know I adore you, but its times like these when I want to study with you when your daydreaming habits actually start to….Korra?”

Korra’s body faced Opal but her attention was fully captivated by something else. Opal glanced over her shoulder to see what it was that Korra was looking at and rolled her eyes. Korra was locked into the game that Asami and another smart-looking Ravenclaw boy were playing. From their concentrated faces and slow movements, it appeared to be like chess, but on a circular board and with small, decorated tiles rather than pieces.

Opal snapped in Korra’s face this time. “Korra? Korra. Korra!” Nothing. Korra was seriously entranced by whatever it was that the two nerds were doing.

Opal leaned over and grabbed Korra’s face in both of her hands. “Sweetheart, do we need to move to another room?” 

Korra’s azure blue eyes met her own neon green and blinked again, apologetically. “Sorry Opal,” Korra said, “I guess I’m just kind of distracted right now.” 

“Kind of?!” Opal laughed, “I was about ready to dump a bucket of water on your hear to get you out of that little daydream. Is Asami making it hard for you to focus?” 

“Yeah,” Korra returned to the game, making Opal raise an eyebrow, “What are they doing? It looks intense.” 

Opal closed her notebook, defeated. “It looks like a fancier version of Chinese checkers. Shall we investigate?”

Korra nodded blankly, not taking her gaze off of the circular board. She and a very frustrated Opal meandered over to the small table that Asami and the boy were hunched over. 

“Hey, nerds,” Opal teased, though neither Asami nor the boy flinched, “Korra couldn’t keep her eyes off of you and it’s ruining our study sesh. What’re you two up to?”

“It’s called Pai Sho,” Asami looked up at the mention of Korra’s name and smiled, “I’m just teaching JP here how to play. He’s catching on pretty well, I’d say.”

“Not well enough to make a dent with you, Ms. Sato!” The boy named JP responded politely, “Although, I’m sure I’ll catch up to you one day. I’m starting to get a feel for your strategies, I presume…”

“Sure, maybe one day,” Asami moved one of her tiles over one of his and leaned back in her chair, “But, unfortunately for you, that day is not today. And, please, call me Asami.” 

JP threw his hands up in the air. “Playing this confounded game with you, Asami, makes me feel like a first-year again.” He looked up to Opal and Korra, who both looked completely lost by the circular board and colorful tiles. 

Asami gestured towards her bewildered friends. “JP, these are my two friends. I assume you’ve met Opal –“ they both nodded “—but this is Korra. She’s Gryffindor’s seeker! You know, the one breaking all the records and who everyone is saying will go pro the moment she graduates?”

JP offered his hand excitedly to Korra, who seemed a little embarrassed at Asami’s introduction. “It is so nice to finally meet you!” JP shook Korra’s hand vigorously, “I’m a huge fan! Not only of the way you fly, but I’ve heard so much about you! Ever since Asami and I met, you’ve been all she could talk ab—“ 

“O-kayyyy JP, I’m glad you’re so excited but I must say that it’s getting pretty late for you, dontcha think?” Opal interjected, noticing the bright red on both Asami and Korra’s faces, “How’s about you and I head on off to bed and leave the poor ladies alone, eh?” 

 

************************

The inside of the restaurant was as stuffy and rustic as usual. The familiarity of it almost threw Carmilla off – she had been looking forward to this all day, and the excitement for had shaken up her routine a bit. Normally, in these types of situations where Carmilla was entering a dingy bar and waiting for a pretty girl to naively walk into her life, Carmilla would be miserably heeding to the directions of her Mother’s plan to kidnap some poor, unsuspecting, single woman and hand her over as her Mother’s meal. Now, Carmilla was here purely out of simple attraction – she liked this Laura girl. A lot. 

Laura was adorable. She made the word ‘adorable’ look tacky. Not only was she physically adorable, but her personality was adorable as well. It was like, she was the human embodiment of a dry kiddie pool full of fluffy yellow ducklings wearing silky blue bows and tripping over themselves whilst happily waddling and quacking in circles of joy and adorableness.

Oh my god, Carmilla thought, I’m going to throw up. I cannot believe I just thought out a scene full of fluffy ducklings and included words like ‘kiddie pool’ and ‘waddling’. 

Carmilla ordered herself a butterbeer and downed a few premature gulps. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and then licked the froth off of the back of her hand. A man sitting at the bar looked at her quizzically as she licked her hand clean, but she hissed at him and he quickly turned away. 

It wasn’t that Laura was late, or anything, it’s just that Carmilla had sort of planned on Laura getting there early. She seemed like the early-bird type. And Carmilla wasn’t getting antsy or excited, per se. No, more just, bored. Anxious for excitement, Carmilla nodded, Yeah, let’s put it that way. 

Carmilla was originally a little surprised at how much of a crush she’d developed for the fluffy-duckling, honey-brown haired girl. But now, she was determined to get her feelings under control. It would only short fling, something to keep Carmilla emotionally distracted and entertained while she secretly did her Mother’s bidding on the side. It won’t ever be anything more than a crush, Carmilla took another swig of her drink, I can handle this. This will be purely for the hell of – 

Laura walked into the pub and Carmilla’s gasp would have been audible were it not for the mouthful of butterbeer she’d just consumed. She choked and forced herself to swallow the rest before resuming into a little coughing fit. Damnit, she’s adorable, Carmilla thought, And I look like a goddamn joke. 

Laura made eye contact with Carmilla and rushed over. “Carmilla! What’s wrong, are you okay?”

“I’m fine…” Carmilla waved her off, trying her best to curb the itch in her throat, “…wrong…pipe.”

Laura’s shoulders relaxed. “Oh good, it’s been a while since I’d practiced CPR and I’m a little out of shape so I wasn’t sure that I could be much help.” She blushed. 

“Unless, I mean,” Laura stammered, “Unless you wanted me to practice CPR on you? Wait no that was dumb, what about, ‘hey girl, can I practice CPR on you? I need to get back into shape with my mouth-to-mouth’…” 

Carmilla smiled, “Smooth, Sundance, smooth.” 

“Can we start over? I’d like to have a few drinks before we start getting into awkward conversations about kissing and such.” 

“A few drinks, eh? How many are you planning on downing before we head to the game?” 

Laura zipped off her raincoat and unslung her pink bag from her shoulder. “That depends on how much Laura you think you can handle,” she smiled coyly, feeling less tense already, “But don’t overestimate how much Laura you can handle. The last time somebody did that, they ended up hanging upside-down on a chandelier from their sweatpants, wearing Victoria Secret bunny ears and an illegal amount of blue eye shadow.” 

Carmilla laughed and waved a bartender to bring around two more mugs. “Sounds like a story I would be only be willing to listen to while slightly tipsy myself,” she teased. 

“I’ll only tell one of my crazy stories if you promise to tell me one of yours,“ Laura rested an elbow on the wooden table and tossed her hair over her shoulder, “I bet you have thousands of thrilling tales wrapped in that mysterious past of yours, and I want to know all the juicy details.” 

“I’ll tell you as many juicy details as you like, cupcake,” Carmilla cocked an eyebrow, impressed by   
Laura’s apparent lack of nerves and sudden surge of bold questions. 

The two went through several rounds of mugs together, and soon, they were both pleasantly buzzed. The game was scheduled to start in a few minutes, but neither woman seemed too rushed to get out the door. A soft drizzle had started outside, and the pattering sounds of the raindrops on the latticed windows combined with the crackle coming from the stone fireplace in the back of the room for a very cozy effect. They lazily stood from their chairs and Carmilla tipped the bartender heartily, insistent that she pay for the exorbitant amount of alcohol that Laura had just consumed. 

Carmilla watched in content as Laura walked next to her, swaying slightly. The weather was overcast, with grey skies and a steady, dripping rainfall, but Carmilla didn’t mind. Laura didn’t seem to, either. They talked about meaningless things, and they talked about meaningful things; Carmilla couldn’t distinguish between their conversations, after a while. 

The girls showed up at the Quidditch pitch just in time to watch Ravenclaw’s seeker catch the snitch. Laura bounced up and down, excitedly. Carmilla should have been feigning disappointment, as Ravenclaw’s win meant a Slytherin loss, but she couldn’t get herself to pry her eyes off of Laura as she cheered and clapped. 

Laura felt the dark, drunken eyes gazing on her and turned to face her. “Thanks for the date,” she whispered, “I had a really good time. Let’s do it again?” 

Carmilla bit her lip and smiled as Laura leaned up and kissed Carmilla on her wet cheek. She watched as Laura squealed, shrugged, then turned on her heel and ran to meet a group of Gryffindor’s making their way out of the bleachers. 

This is just a date, and she is just a crush, Carmilla reminded herself as she listened and watched the tiny, fluffy girl ramble and laugh about the many random and human things in her short life. She blamed the butterbeer, but Carmilla could have sworn she felt something in her empty chest. She was soaked through her cloak from the rain, but somehow she felt, warm. 

*********************************************

Opal practically dragged the stumbling boy out of the room by his shirt collar, slinging her bag over her shoulder on the way out. “We’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow afternoon, Korra,” she called out, before closing the door behind her. 

Asami looked at Korra and cleared her throat. “Sorry about him, he’s just a huge fan of Quidditch. The historical parts of it thrill him, he says.” 

Korra sat in his chair and shrugged. “It’s no biggie,” she said, “I’m kind of glad he was so awkward, it gave Opal the perfect excuse to end our horrible study session anyways.” 

“Oh?” Asami laughed, “You sure that she was the one who was ready for the studying to be over?”

“Oh, definitely,” Korra smirked, “By the end of it, I was practically taping her eyes open so she wouldn’t fall asleep.”

“I’m sure. So, why did you two come over here to watch JP and I play Pai Sho if you were both so glued to your studies?”

Korra scratched the back of her head. “Okay so maybe we were both a little intrigued at this game you guys were playing and maybe we thought it was about time for a break anyways.” 

“Whatever you say,” Asami rested her elbows on the table, “So, you’ve never heard of ‘this game’ then?” 

“Nope. I only know that the name of it is Pie Shows, which captures my interests immediately.”

“Pai Sho,” Asami laughed again, “It’s an ancient strategy game which, unfortunately, does not include any pie or shows.” Korra folded her arms in disappointment. Only Korra could make pouting look adorable, Asami thought.

“Want me to teach you?” 

Korra perked up. “Yeah, for sure!” 

Asami cleaned up the tiles from the previous game. “Well then, I’m gonna need something in return.”

“What do you mean?” Korra looked confused, and a little taken aback, “I don’t really have anything to offer that you don’t already have.”

Asami squinted mischievously, “You can offer me secrets.”

Korra gaped. “Asami Sato! How very cliché of you.”

“Whatever. I have the right to be as curious and gossipy as all the rest of your fans!”

“And considering you’re my best friend, I guess you have double the rights.”

“Exactly,” Asami bit her lip, “Which means, I actually get two secrets.” 

Korra hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. “I walked right into that one. Alright, fine. You can ask two questions and I’ll answer truthfully.”

Asami wiggled her hips in her chair. “Eee! Okay, okay – I’ll ask you one question before we play and one question after. How’s that?”

“Deal,” Korra slouched in her chair, “What would you like to know, Ms. Sato?”

“I’ve actually been waiting to ask you this for a long time,” Asami’s deep emerald eyes shimmered with anticipation. Korra found herself staring at them for a little longer than she would have liked to admit.

“Have you now?” Korra asked quietly, trying to ignore the rising pace of her heartbeat, “Now I’m just as curious as you are.”

“Well, I’ve just wanted to know for a long time but never knew how to ask. I just want to know,” Asami gulped a little, failing to hide her nervousness, “Do you, erm, like anyone?” 

Korra blinked and blushed slightly. “Out of all the things in the world,” Korra laughed, “That is what you’re so curious about?” 

Asami blushed as well and divided the tiles in front of her. “Well, I don’t know, I feel like it’s a perfectly reasonable question for someone to ask their girlfriend – I mean, you know, like best friend, gal pal, uh…I mean I’m just saying, I should know if you do like someone!”

“No, I’m teasing you Asami, don’t worry. But, I must say, I actually don’t know if I can answer that.”

“You promised you would!” 

“No, no, I mean like, I don’t know if…if I do like this person or not.” 

Asami’s palms suddenly grew very sweaty. “What, uh, what do you mean?” 

“I don’t know,” Korra rubbed the back of her neck and shifted in her seat, “I just…this person is amazing, and I really like them, but I’m just not sure if I…I don’t think I should like them. Or, like-like them.” 

Asami gulped. Her leg was bouncing furiously under the table. “What do you mean, ‘should’?” 

Korra licked her lips and folded her arms again. “Like, well, I don’t know. I’d feel weird if I liked them. Like, they could probably do a lot better than me. Plus, they probably aren’t even into me anyways. I mean, if they were into me, that would certainly change things a lot but it would also be weird if they were into me and I’m not sure I want them to be into me in the first place.” 

I’d say that sounds like a crush to me,” Asami said quietly, “Who is it?” 

Korra looked at the two separated piles of Pai Sho pieces and furrowed her brow before looking back at Asami triumphantly. “Uh-uh. No way. That counts as a totally separate question,” she said slyly.

Asami chortled dryly. “Oh, yeah, ha, the deal.” 

Korra noticed Asami’s eyes begin to sag and put her hand on the tiles. “We don’t have to do this tonight,” Korra said, softly, “You look exhausted. Maybe you should just get to bed, and we can finish this later?”

“Actually, maybe that is a good idea,” Asami yawned, “Going to that match with JP and his friends must have wiped me out.”

“No biggie, ‘Sami,” Korra helped her clean up the tiles, “But don’t think this gets you out of teaching me how to play this crazy game.”

Asami packed the game into her bag before standing and stretching. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”


	7. Not Sure How To Feel About Kuvira, And Danny Is Precious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Laura is a sappy drunken sweetheart   
> *Moving in the plot??  
> *Carmilla and LaF are bros, Kuvira is weird and intense  
> *Danny is a sappy sober sweetheart

Laura practically tackled Mako on her way into the Gryffindor crowd. There was only a few of them there, the rain had warded off most Gryffindors, considering the match was only between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Mako, Bolin and Danny never missed games, though. They always went together, so they could scout – and laugh at – the competition. Korra was spending the evening with Opal, practicing for their Transfigurations test coming up, otherwise she’d be right there with them.

“Hey watch i—oh, hey Laura,” Mako rolled his eyes, used to her bounciness. “Where have you been? We thought you were planning on coming with us to the game.” 

“Maybe you thought she was planning on coming with us, but we all knew that she had a date!” Bolin yammered excitedly, “Speaking of, where is the lucky lady, Lo?” 

Laura secretly loved that nickname. Only Bolin and Korra could really pull it off, though. She threw her arm over his shoulder – well, as much as she could, anyways, considering Bolin had a solid foot and a half on her – and flipped her hair. 

“Just left her under the mistletoe,” Laura mumbled, the alcohol now thoroughly controlling her words, “I kissed her on the cheek and bolted. She’s so pretty.”

Danny, who had remained silent once Laura joined the group, perked up at the word “kissed”. 

“Wait, what? You kissed her on the first date?!” Danny asked, failing to conceal her disappointment. Mako looked over at her and gave her a sympathetic nod, signaling that now was not the time to get defensive or jealous. Danny sighed and backed off, understanding.

Laura hiccupped. “Yes ma’am, my mouth touched her face and it was splendid, even if it was kind of slobbery.”

“Slobbery?” Bolin laughed, “You’re drunk, aren’t you? I mean, yes, you do have a very unique vocabulary, but I wouldn’t guess that you’d use the word ‘slobbery’ to describe a cute and romantic kiss.” He scrunched his face at the thought, earning a gentle slap from the tiny girl hanging off of his broad shoulders.

“What’s wrong with slobbery kisses?” Danny muttered under her breath. 

“It was only slobbery,” Laura paused to hiccup, “because it was raining, Bo. Or, should I say, Bozo!” Laura cracked up at her joke. Mako and Danny couldn’t help but smile at it, either. “Except, I feel a little guilty about dating her.” 

“Why?” Mako furrowed his brow, always concerned for his little friend, “Did she do something to you?” 

“Unfortunately not!” Laura said, perhaps a little too loudly for Danny’s tastes, “But, she’s a Slytherin, and I’m pretty sure that dating her would be breaking *hiccup* at least a zillion rivalry rules.” 

Danny grunted, officially disliking whoever it was that Laura fancied so much. Mako looked over to her again, but Danny didn’t make eye contact with him. 

“Uh oh,” Bolin raised an eyebrow playfully, “I’m not sure if we, as Gryffindor’s keeper and beaters, can approve of that, little Lo.”

“Yeah, Mako and I agree. She’s off-limits.”

“I never said anything like that! Although, I wouldn’t be against setting boundaries. If you’re going to date her, you still have to cheer for us when we play them in a few weeks.” 

“Duhhhhh,” Laura waved her free hand in Mako’s face, “I wouldn’t rather cheer for nobody elses!” 

“Okay, you’ve obviously had way too much to drink, Laura,” Danny pulled her off of Bolin and slung Laura’s arms over her own shoulders, instead. “You two dweebs go on ahead, I’m going to take Laura to the dorm and put her in bed so she doesn’t end up passed out somewhere outside while it rains.” 

The brothers waved after them, “We’ll wait for you at the dining hall,” Mako called out, “We plan on celebrating Slytherin’s loss and gloating in that Kirsch guy’s face. He lost today’s bet, hardcore.”

Danny smirked, “Wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

*****************************

Carmilla kicked her boots across her dorm room and wiggled her feet into a pair of worn-down slippers. She’d had these slippers for almost two decades, but she wasn’t planning on giving them up any time soon. Even if her big toe stuck out of the bottom of the sole on both feet.

She fell back onto her bed and closed her eyes. Having her own room was one of the “perks” of being associated with her Mother; conveniently, her Mother was not only the potions master, but also the Head of Slytherin House. Both Will and Carmilla had private – albeit small – bedrooms and they made the most of their privacy there. Carmilla only wished she had a window. 

Alcohol didn’t normally have much of an effect on her, but tonight, her head was swimming. Her mind raced through the night’s events over and over, until all of the wonderful details blurred together into one big, fuzzy, yellow memory. Carmilla smiled and put her hands behind her head. It was a good date. A really good date. 

The one detail that Carmilla’s mind seemed to focus on was Laura’s little peck on her cheek. It was the closest thing Carmilla had felt to being purely happy in a long time. The kiss was only on her cheek, and Laura was obviously bolder drunk than she was sober, and it only lasted for a fraction of a second, but it made Carmilla’s cheek hurt to think about. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled this much.

A half-buzzed red head poked through the slightly open crack of her bedroom door. “You certainly have an abnormal amount of glee in your system today,” LaFontaine teased.

“And why does that give you the right to enter my sanctuary?”

“Because I am basically your only non-blood-related friend in the entire House of Slytherin and that qualifies me as your official post-date love guru.” They walked in and sat down next to Carmilla on the bed.

“I don’t remember ever titling you a friend, nor necessitating a love guru.” Carmilla sat up and moved herself to the top of the bed, near her pillow. 

“Ah, but that is where you are wrong, my friend,” LaF wasn’t swayed, they knew Carmilla had a soft spot for them, “You, of all people, need a love guru the most. You are absolutely head over heels for whoever this poor girl is and it’s only been one date. That necessitates help, if you ask me.” 

Carmilla yawned and curled her body around her pillow. “Not fair. I’d diagnose myself as merely intrigued by this girl. Curious, yes. Head over heels, no.”

LaF pursed their lips and pulled their legs up into a crisscross position, facing Carmilla. “Okay then fine, prove it. Spill the deets about this date! I’ll re-evaluate your crush diagnosis after I hear about what happened tonight.”

Carmilla bit her lip shyly and shoved her face into her pillow. 

LaFontaine laughed, “I guess that settles it. You’ve got it bad, girl.” 

“She’s got what bad? I hope nothing serious, she has a terrible iron deficiency.” Kuvira stood in the doorway, shoulders taught, with her hands clasped tightly behind her back. 

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at that scumbag Prefect’s party happening tonight? LaFontaine spat. Carmilla didn’t know Kuvira very well, but judging by both the sinister tone of LaF’s voice and the fact that she mentioned Carmilla having an “iron deficiency”, Carmilla could guess that Kuvira liked to stick her abnormally sharp nose into other people’s business. 

“I was there until I made sure that everyone knew I’d attended and then I left. The point of going to those silly events is to be seen by who’s there, not to see what’s there,” Kuvira took a strong step into the room, “I heard the word ‘diagnosis’ and was concerned. If either of you are coming down with something I would suggest taking it and leaving it in the Hospital Wing. Our Quidditch match against Gryffindor is just two weeks away and we can’t afford losing one of our players to temporary illness.”

“The only thing unwelcomingly plaguing the vicinity would be whoever you might be” Carmilla hissed, “I don’t remember inviting you into my room.” 

“I’m sorry, I haven’t fully introduced myself to you. Your brother’s told me so much about you. My name is Kuvira,” she held out a stiff hand, which Carmilla avoided, “You must be Carmilla. I can see that my presence is off-putting to you. I apologize for intruding on your personal space. I will leave now, your brother and I have plans for the evening anyways.” She pivoted on her strangely large boots and stomped out the door, shutting it firmly behind her.

“So she’s kind of intense,” Carmilla didn’t like Kuvira, but she also didn’t really like anyone in the House of Slytherin other than LaFontaine and Will. “My brother has been hanging out with her a lot, should I be concerned?” 

LaF glared distantly at the closed bedroom door. “She’s just, I don’t know,” they gulped visibly and folded their arms, “She likes control. And organization. Which means she doesn’t approve of things not belonging where they ‘should’, which means she and I don’t exactly cooperate well.”

Carmilla put her pillow behind her and wrapped her arms around her knees, cocking her head. “Well in that case, I re-emphasize my statement by her not being welcome in this room. Feel free to escape here when you need. I do.” 

LaF looked at her, touched and a little surprised. “I knew you were a softie at heart, but inviting me to your room? Come on. You’re practically a saint.” Carmilla rolled her eyes and fell back onto her pillow. “But really, thanks. That means a lot.” 

“Don’t mention it.” Carmilla shut her eyes again and returned to reliving the earlier events of the evening. “Ever.” 

 

*******************************

Dragging a wasted Laura to bed wasn’t actually a new thing for Danny. Once upon a time, the two girls had….experimented together. Danny would never admit it, but she fell pretty hard for Laura during that period of experimentation and development. She thought that Laura felt the same, until one day they fought over something trivial and ended things permanently. Looking back, they’d both accepted the fact that the pair of them would never work out, and their friendship wasn’t negatively affected in the long run, but it still stung every once in a while. 

Danny looked down at her tiny, gay, blubbering friend and smiled sadly. Since their break up, it’d been hard for Danny to date other people – especially other girls. Laura was always so confident with her sexuality, and Danny often envied that. Many people looked up to Danny as “the confident one”, but that was only sometimes true. Of course, she’d come a long ways, but there were many days when Danny would look in the mirror and doubt herself. 

Danny Lawrence was a huge, strong, muscular, athletic, loyal softie. She was easily the tallest in her House, and her bright red hair helped her to stick out in any crowd. She used to hate sticking out. She hated it more than anything. Part of her thinks that was a big reason for why she liked dating Laura so much; Laura never once commented on her height or appearance. Well, whenever she did, it was always positive. Laura didn’t call her names, Laura called her “beautiful”. Laura didn’t look away when they talked, Laura made eye contact. Laura didn’t complain about having to walk twice as fast to keep up, and Laura didn’t assume the title of little spoon – even though that was what she usually was, anyways. 

Now, Danny could look in the mirror and be proud of who she was, without Laura holding her hand. However, it was times like this when Laura was stumbling and adorable and affectionate and grateful when Danny remembered just how much she missed taking her red hair out of a tight ponytail and just being Danny, not “the confident one”. 

“Thankssss Dan the man,” Laura slurred as Danny picked her up and placed her softly onto her bed, “You’re the best, you know that?” 

Danny swallowed, “Get some sleep, silly.” 

“No really, you’re the bestest,” Laura yawned and curled into a ball, “So much the best, a lot the best….”

Danny pulled the comforter over Laura’s shoulders and wiped her wet hair out of her already snoring face. “Sleep well, little pup.” 

Danny turned the lights off and slowly closed the door. She wasn’t sure why she called her ‘little pup’, it just kind of fell of her tongue. She made her way out of the dorm, but stopped at the full-length mirror in the hallway. She took a deep breath and looked at herself. A beautiful, strong, soft-at-heart woman looked back. Danny smiled, she had come a long way, hadn’t she? 

Danny stretched her arms and strode off. Maybe it was time that Danny start looking into her revamping own love life, with her own slobbery kisses and drunken dreams.


	8. Mako Is A Horny Son of A Gun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Laura is hungover and Korra teases her a lot  
> *Carmilla and Will development  
> *Korra and Carmilla meet again (duh dun duuhhhhh)  
> *Mako and Bolin talk about girls, and when Danny walks in Mako be like wait wut  
> *plot development, fluff  
> ****everyone is a dork******

* _************************_

Laura laid face down on the table in the dining hall, moaning. Korra was having a lot of fun messing with her as she fought her vicious hangover.

“Oh my god,” Laura groaned, “If you stick your finger in my ear _one more time_ I swear I’m going to vomit in your French toast sticks.”

“Okay, okay,” Korra shielded her plate, “Touch my French toast sticks and, hangover or not, I will tickle you until you bleed.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah, I don’t mess around when it comes to these bad boys. Look at them, they’re beautiful.” Korra picked one up and admired it before dipping it in a cup of maple syrup. “Why don’t you try one? I’m sure it’d make you feel better.”

Laura tilted her head so that her cheek rested on the wood surface of the Gryffindor table. “I don’t even want to be awake right now. Why’d you drag me to eat breakfast with you when I could be sleeping?”

“Because you wouldn’t be sleeping. You would be sprawled out over our dormitory bathroom, making everyone else miserable with your whining and gagging. You aren’t exactly the easiest drunk…or, psot-drunk.” Laura grunted and put her arms over her face. “Which, by the way, you haven’t explained to me exactly _why_ you were so wasted as to make you this miserable. What were you up to last night?”

Laura opened one eye at Korra. “You didn’t hear?” Korra shook her head and grabbed her mug of orange juice.

“I went on a date last night,” Laura said dreamily, suddenly less grumpy, “With Carmilla.”

Korra wiped the back of her mouth. “Carmilla? Like, _thee_ Carmilla? The one you’ve been sketching and writing disgusting fanfiction about?”

Laura shot up from the table, her hair plastered against her reddened and wood-imprinted face. “I don’t…!”

Korra wiggled an eyebrow. “Oh, you don’t, eh?” She cleared her throat, “So who wrote that little smutty oneshot between a Ms. Mircalla and a Ms. Alaura? ‘She pinned me up against the wall and started nipping at the tender flesh of my neck…’”

“Shut _up!_ ” Laura rammed her elbow into Korra’s side, “You weren’t supposed to see that!”

“You left it out, open, on my bed!” Korra laughed, “You can’t blame me for skimming over a page or two! And I mean literally, a page or two. I couldn’t handle the rest of it, I had to put it down after the ‘unzipped my jeans with her teeth’ part, you little rascal.”

Laura put her face in both of her hands. “Ohhhhh my _god_ I can’t believe you saw that. I need some serious caffeine.” She reached over and poured herself a considerable amount of coffee.

“That’s the spirit, eat up!” Korra went back to her plate, “But now I’m curious, are you going to enlighten me about this Carmilla character? If she’s anything like Mircalla, I imagine she’s pretty feisty.”

Laura rolled her eyes but smiled through a mouthful of coffee. “I wouldn’t use the word ‘feisty’ to describe her. I’d say she’s more, ‘mysterious’.”

“Ohoh, ‘mysterious’!”

“She’s definitely mysterious, but I can’t help but think that she’s also…I don’t know, it sounds stupid.”

Korra shoved a large French toast stick into her mouth. “No, no say it, I’m intrigued.”

Laura twirled a strand of loose hair. “I feel like she’s only mysterious because she’s, _hiding.”_

“You’re such a romantic.”

“Fuck you. I think she’s wonderful. And mysterious, and elegant, and charming, and thoughtful, and gorgeous, and dorky…”

“Hold up. I was going to make fun of you for being a sap again for listing all those qualities, but how can someone be both ‘elegant’ and ‘dorky’?”

Korra waited for a response for a moment before realizing that Laura wasn’t paying attention. She followed her line of sight and saw a girl across the dining hall at the Slytherin table, leaning back in her chair and reading some really old book. The girl definitely looked ‘mysterious’ and ‘elegant’, and fit the descriptions Laura had given earlier about Carmilla having wavy, dark hair and porcelain skin. Korra looked back at Laura, who was now biting her lip and rubbing her thumb along the side of her coffee mug.

Korra smirked. That girl _had_ to be Carmilla. She looked back at the Slytherin table and saw Carmilla looking back. The two made eye contact and recognized each other immediately.

 

_******************************_

Carmilla couldn’t stop herself from stealing glances at the tiny, hungover Gryffindor across the dining hall. She’d brought a good book with her as a shield, so that it wouldn’t look like she was actually checking her out less than twelve hours after they’d gone on a date. Not that she didn’t like the book, she’d just rather be watching the cute, honey-haired girl grapple with what appeared to be an intense headache.

That sounded creepy. But it was true, Laura truly was adorable even when she was waking up during a relatively nasty alcohol purge.

“Will you stop eye-humping the poor girl and just go talk to her?” Will croaked through a mouthful of biscuit, “Seriously, it’s fucking annoying as shit. I’ve been trynna talk to you since you’ve sat down and you haven’t peeled your attention away from her.”

Carmilla rolled her dark eyes. “Shut up and finish your wheaties, William. I’ll talk to her after a while, so that she doesn’t think I’m desperate.”

“Whatever. Will you at least listen to me then?”

Carmilla put down her tattered book and turned to face him. “Alright, what is it.”

“It’s about Kuvira,” Will said, suddenly shy, “I was thinking of asking her out.”

Carmilla’s eyebrows raised. “I thought you had a crush on Mako.”

“Yeah, well, that was last year. Now I’m thinking I should stick more with the Slytherin crowd,” he turned away, “Plus, I think she’s kinda hot.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Carmilla scrunched her nose, “Definitely not my cup of tea, but if you’re into it then I’d say go for it.”

“Wait, really?” Will looked back at her, suspicious, “If I’d known you’d be so open to it I wouldn’t have asked about her in the first place.”

“Of course I’m open to it, why wouldn’t I be?” Carmilla frowned, “Just because I thought you were strictly into grumpy, out-of-your-league and slightly attractive men doesn’t mean I don’t approve of you dating grumpy, out-of-your-league and slightly attractive women.”

Will kicked her boot with his sneaker. “Hey, I wouldn’t say out-of-my-league if I were you. I’m prized material.”

“Prized material or not, she’s out of your league. Actually, I am curious what you like about her,” Carmilla spoke slowly, thinking, “She’s kind of, well, intense.”

“And Mako -- who as only a crush a few weeks ago, by the way -- wasn’t?"

“No, not like her. Mako was competitive, but Kuvira seems…”

“I like how she’s so assertive, if that’s would fit the word you’re thinking of.”

“I was thinking more like ‘domineering’ or ‘dominating’ but sure, let’s go with ‘ _assertive’,”_ Carmilla shook her head, “I’m sticking with girls that don’t act like robots, but if you’re into that, then I’m not holding you back.”

“Dominating, huh?” Will smirked, “I actually like the sound of that. I’ll bet she’s insane in bed.”

“Whatever, William.” Carmilla was done with this conversation. She pulled out her book and started to fake-read it again. Her eyes glossed over the top of the pages and searched for her favorite Gryffindor cupcake.

When she saw her, Laura was looking back, with less alcohol tainting her system and a hint of recent daydreaming in her eyes. They made eye contact, and when Laura smiled at her Carmilla’s heart punched into her ribcage. She wouldn’t call it a regular, humanesque heartbeat, but she would definitely describe it as movement. She smiled back, and waved her hand slightly.

Carmilla chuckled to herself as she watched Laura giggle and play with her long, brown hair. The extremely tan and muscular girl sitting next to her seemed to tease her a little and Laura blushed.

 _Wait,_ Carmilla squinted, _Is that…._

Laura’s friend followed Laura’s line of sight and met Carmilla’s eyes. Both girls froze.

 _I’ve seen her before,_ Carmilla realized, _That’s Kyoshi’s doppleganger._

 

_*********************_

“Bro, do you think she likes Wolf-Roses or Night Lilies better?” Bolin held up two relatively similarly-stinky flowers up to Mako’s face.

“Ugh, I don’t know, isn’t she your girlfriend? You should know this – at least more than I do.” Mako wasn’t the biggest fan of flowers, anyways. When he was a kid, flowers and plants were usually the victims in his practice of explosive spells. He had a knack for explosions and all things fire-based. He would tie the flowers to a post several yards away and try to blast it to pieces, petal by petal. Until one day, he picked a flower that he was apparently allergic to, and he’d avoided them ever since.

Bolin frowned. “She’s not technically my girlfriend _yet._ That’s what the flowers are for! I’m going to give her flowers, and ask her to the ball coming up, and then if all goes well,” he closed his eyes and sighed, “We’ll dance, we’ll feed each other chocolate covered fruit, we’ll look at the stars, she’ll call me handsome and I’ll call her pretty, and then we’ll boldly declare our love for each other and defy anyone who stands in our way!”

Mako rolled his eyes. “Or, you could just ask her to be your girlfriend when you give her those flowers.”

“Mako, Mako, Mako,” Bolin tsked and put both the bouquet of roses and the bouquet of lilies into a vase. “Love isn’t just a ‘give her flowers once and then its official forever’ deal. Someday, you’ll understand.” He patted his brother on the shoulder and waltzed out the door with an extremely large bundle of flowers.

Mako was disgusted. Bolin could be such a sap. And yet, Mako couldn’t help but get a little jealous at how happy his younger brother was. Especially when he was around Opal. The two of them seemed to brighten each other up.

He crashed onto the couch and put a pillow over his face. Maybe, he should look into finding a girl of his own.

“Hope that defeated body language isn’t related to that bet we made with Kirsch,” Danny abruptly strut in and plopped down onto the couch cushion next to his head. “I wasn’t able to check the scores of last night’s Romania game, but I’m not particularly ready to hand over my stache of chocolate frogs.”

Mako moved the pillow and looked at the red-headed girl next to him. She looked, different, somehow. Better. Actually, she looked really good.

“Mako?” Danny wriggled out of her backpack and tossed it onto the ground before tucking her long, toned legs underneath her in a crisscross position. She caught him staring at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, you okay?”

Mako blinked. “Huh?” He sat up, suddenly uncomfortable, “Sorry, what?”

“I asked if you were okay, you seem kind of out of it,” Danny said, with a hint of concern in her tone.

“Yeah, yeah sorry I’m good. Just thinking.” Mako loosened his tie. What was wrong with him? _It’s just Danny,_ he thought, _Why do I feel so awkward?_

Danny wasn’t convinced. “You can talk to me, bro. What’s up?” She put a hand on his knee and Mako’s entire body tensed. Blood rushed to the lower half of his body and he began to sweat. He tried looking at Danny’s face and give her a reassuring answer, but his eyes landed on her chest. She was leaning slightly, and Mako’s mouth ran dry at the sight of her unexpectedly large and curved breasts. He whipped his head back around and adjusted his seatbelt. A thick, hot fog clouded his thoughts and he struggled to piece together a cohesive sentence.

“I, I uh,” his tongue felt fat in his mouth, making it even harder for him to speak, “I am just water thirsty.”

He stood up rapidly from the couch and tripped slightly on the coffee table. Danny raised an eyebrow. “You are water thirsty? As opposed to like, food thirsty?”

 _More like, women-thirsty,_ Mako thought to himself, back turned to his all-of-a-sudden gorgeous, red-headed female friend sitting on the couch. He glanced downwards briefly, to make sure it wasn't too obvious that he was uncomfortably aroused.

He paused. _Oh my god, I’m not woman-thirsty, I’m Danny-thirsty._ His eyes widened at the realization. He picked up his water and chugged the entire thing. _Holy shit, I have a thing for Danny._

Mako slowly turned back to face Danny, who was still sitting, confused and concerned, on the three-person couch he’d recently ran away from. He started to un-knot his tie and unbutton his collared shirt, taking a moment to really look at Danny. _She’s cute,_ he thought, _She’s damn cute. I’d even go so far as to say she’s hot._

“What’s up with you today?” Danny said finally, “Are you gonna tell me what’s wrong with you or am I gonna have to beat you up for it.”

Mako grinned _But, she’s also a bro. Maybe, this isn’t something to freak out about._

He walked back over to her and sat down. Maybe he should test this out.

“Don’t worry about It,” he is blood was still pumping rapidly and his pants felt a little tight, but he tried to appear cool and collected, “I’ve just been kind of busy with school and...working out…” He silently cursed himself. He hated to drop the typical ‘I’ve been working out’, but it kind of slipped out.

“Oh?” Danny smiled awkwardly, her eyebrow still raised, “I hope you’re not referring to those things you were calling pushups at practice the other day. Those were pathetic.”

“…No. I’m not referring to those,” Mako rolled up the sleeves of his now completely unbuttoned white shirt, leaving the front open to expose his tight abs. His untied tie hung loosely over his neck. “Even though I did eighty…but no, I was talking about the stuff I did _after_ our training.”

Danny bit her lip, unsure of how to handle this display of masculinity. “If you’re trying to show off, stop. You and I both know that you’re a lightweight. I could squat double whatever you do in the gym, any day.”

Mako shrugged. “Okay, fine, so I’m not much of a lower-body strength guy, who cares. All I’m saying is that I’m ready for a break.”

“Wait, really?” Danny asked, surprised, “I thought for sure you were trying to rustle up another bet. Or at the very least, brag about how much lifting you’d done, recently.”

“I thought about doing that, but then I realized that you’d probably win the bet or out-lift me anyways, and I just wanted to talk to you,” Mako said, smoothly. His heart was still racing and he was nervous that Danny would laugh at him for his shift towards sensitivity, but instead, her expression softened.

“Oh,” she smiled a little and swept a hand through her long, strawberry hair so that the part switched sides. Mako couldn’t tell if she looked more flattered or uneasy. “Well then I guess I should stop teasing you about being a lightweight and start teasing you about being a softie.”

Mako slouched back into the couch, deflated. “Fine then, I’ll stop complimenting you.”

“I am seriously struggling to keep up with your mood. First you’re spacey and brooding, then you’re like, sensitive, then you’re, I don’t wanna say flirtatious, but sassy…now you’re upset at me?” Danny moved off of the couch and grabbed her bag. “I’m just going to assume you’re on your period or something. I’ll be in my room, if you figure out what you need.” She walked around the furniture and into the girl’s corridor.

Mako watched her leave with a crease on his forehead and a bulge in his pants. He botched that interaction, hardcore. And to make it worse, he was hot and bothered and he had no idea if Danny noticed his excitement. _This is going to be harder than I thought._

He looked back down and rolled his eyes. _Punny. God, I need a shower._ He shuffled into the bathroom and began making plans on how to ask Danny Lawrence to the Fall Ball.

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Korra and Carmilla talk and try to become friends but it's a little awkward  
> *Laura, the little sh*t, likes the idea of Korra being protective and cute, and Carmilla being the broody, hot, dangerous new gf.  
> *LaF/Asami BROTP omg they're the cutest together I can't  
> *Poor little gay Korra is so homophobic. But only to herself. So basically, she's super closeted to only herself and ugh my poor baby  
> *Also, my poor little Asami YOU ARE SO LOVED YOU LITTLE GAY CUTIE  
> *I guess here's where the super angst comes into play

Korra was a little worried, at this point. It was one thing for Laura to be crushing on a girl, and another thing for her to be basically falling in love with a sketchy, Slytherin girl – who happened to threaten Korra’s life just a little while ago – after the first date. Who was this  _Carmilla_ girl?

She and Korra had been holding each other’s eyes hostage in a passive-aggressive game of chicken. Korra could tell that Carmilla was confused, and a little uncomfortable, by the fact that Korra was sitting next to Laura. Korra had to admit that she as a little confused and uncomfortable as well.

Neither woman dared break the eye contact. Instead, the game intensified. Carmilla put her book down, and Korra responded by taking a long drink from her glass. Carmilla put her hair into a bun – Korra heard Laura next to her choke a little on her pumpkin juice at the sight of Carmilla’s up-do – and then Korra rolled up her already short sleeves, exposing her massive, tan muscles.

Laura eventually caught onto the game and nudged Korra in the arm. “Hey, what’re you two doing? Do you know each other, or are you just trying to intimidate her?”

Korra looked at Laura for only an instant, but it was enough to warrant a victory on Carmilla’s end. Korra glanced back in Carmilla’s direction to see the girl with her hands behind her head and her feet on the bench in front of her, an obvious grin on her face.

“I, uh, I don’t know,” Korra went back to squinting at Carmila, who had picked up her book and resumed reading, “We were just, you know, checking each other out?”

Laura gasped, and slammed her glass back onto the wooden table. “You were _what?!”_

Korra realized her poor word choice and turned back to Laura, frantically waving her hands in defense. “No, no not like that! I wouldn’t check out whoever you’re interested in! You know I’m not into women, anyways.”

Laura rolled her eyes at the last comment but huffed out her acceptance. “Okay, then what were you doing?”

“I’m not sure exactly,” Korra’s gaze fell down onto her plate, trying to figure out the best thing to say. “But I think it was that thing where like the romantic interest and the best friend have a little tension over the protagonist?”

Laura beamed. “Really?!? That’s great!” Korra looked at her incredulously. “I mean, uh, shoot! Why would I think that it’s cute that my best friend in the entire world feels protective over me and my hopefully-soon-to-be girlfriend challenges it OH MY GOSH IT’S GOING TO BE LIKE A MOVIE THIS IS GREAT.”

Korra relaxed. “You’re the biggest dork in the entire world.”

“Coming from you, that means a lot. Especially considering you referred to yourself as ‘the best friend’ and to me as ‘the protagonist’.”

“Whatever,” Korra caught a glimpse of Carmilla’s eyes back on her and glanced back in Carmilla’s direction. The Slytherin was looking intently at Korra again, and motioned towards the entrance to the dining hall. Did she want to talk with Korra? “I uh, I’ve gotta run,” Korra got up from her spot at the table and when she noticed Carmilla do the same, she understood that they were supposed to meet outside. “Apparently, I’ve got a meeting with a dark-haired, porcelain-skinned Slytherin.”

Laura looked confused until she saw Carmilla leaving as well. “Oh!” Laura picked up her fork again, smugly pleased, “Well then, be nice and make sure to tell me what she says!”

Korra would have rolled her eyes were she not strangely anxious about this meeting.

_*************************_

A small explosion in the back of the classroom interrupted Asami from her thoughts. Two boys had managed to set their cauldron on fire and thought that the best way to solve the problem would be to throw some water over it, which everybody knows, when water interacts with tempered dragon’s blood, it explodes. _Idiots,_ she thought to herself. She and LaFontaine had finished their daily assignment a while ago, and the two of them were now getting pretty far ahead in the next day’s homework. Unfortunately, though, Asami couldn’t bring herself to care about the work problems in the packet in front of her. Her mind was drifting all over the place.

Okay, actually, she was pretty consistently thinking about Korra.

Alright fine, 50% of her thoughts revolved around the Fall Ball coming up, and how badly she wanted to ask Korra to go to it with her, and the other 50% of her thoughts were trying to fight the other thoughts out of her head.

To be quite honest, Asami was undergoing quite a lot of internal turmoil. Half of her craved to succumb to her romantic feelings towards her best friend, and the other half was disappointed that she’d let herself fall for her best friend in the first place. On top of that, her father had just had a breakthrough with some mysterious new product and was constantly sending her owls for help and advice. As a result, several media had snuck their owls and journalists into Asami’s life, trying to pry some of the information out of her. And if that wasn’t enough, the next three weeks were going to be an absolute war in her classes. It always surprised her how much her classes could pile on in the middle of the semester – often, getting through finals would be much easier than getting through midterms.

“Hey, what’d you get for #12?” LaFontaine asked, wholly engaged in their packet.

“Asami?” They looked up, confused at the silent response. “Hey, Asami, you in there?”

“Hmm? Oh yes, sorry,” she replied, blinking back the several trains of thought running around in her head, “Sorry, what’d you say?”

LaF’s forehead wrinkled in concern. “I asked what you got for #12, but right now I’m guessing you’re not too concerned about the Potion’s homework, am I right?”

Asami flipped through her notes. “No no, I got an answer. I said that the most significant ingredient in a werewolf’s normaling potion is – “

“Wait, Asami, what’s up?” LaF interrupted, “This can wait. We’re already a couple days ahead, compared to the rest of the class.” Asami nodded, distracted. “Talk to me, what’s going on?”

Asami sighed and laughed dryly. “To be honest, I’m not quite so sure what is going on,” she frowned, “I just have…a lot of thoughts swimming around.”

“Care to enlighten me?” they responded kindly, “I could use a break from all these stupid Potions questions, and it seems like you could, too.”

Asami’s eyes fell as she smiled, but she started to talk about her father and the press. Once she began talking, she really couldn’t stop. She started saying things that she didn’t even know she was thinking about: how she didn’t care much for politics or business at all, how she was scared that her father would pass the torch of leadership onto her, how she was bored with school but she didn’t want to leave Hogwarts because she didn’t really feel safe anywhere else, how she was excited for going out on her own but terrified of the process to independence…everything.

LaF just sat and listened, their face softening with each new confession. Every once in a while, they offered slight nods or comments to show they were paying attention, but ultimately, they understood that Asami needed to keep talking and they were happy to let her do so.

_******************_

Carmilla stood outside the massive, stone doors of the dining hall, waiting for Laura’s friend Korra to show herself. What was taking her so long?

Carmilla herself was a little anxious about this meeting. She knew how big of a deal it would be to Laura that she get along with her best friend, but she was also really concerned about the whole possibly-an-evil-doppleganger deal. Of course, Carmilla still wasn’t exactly sure if dopplegangers were inherently evil, nor even if Laura’s friend seriously was a doppleganger in the first place, but still. Carmilla would much rather her whole interaction with Laura was purely non-supernatural – or, as non-supernatural as a vampire at an ancient, private school of magic could make it for a year or two. 

The tan-skinned, short brunette-haired friend peeked her head around the corner and smiled awkwardly when she saw Carmilla looking at her. She approached equally as awkwardly, obviously uncomfortable. _Oh,_ Carmilla thought heavily, _If she’s not Kyoshi herself, then she is definitely a doppleganger. The look identical._

“Uh, heyy,” the girl wrapped both hands around the strap of her bag, “Uhh, you must be Carmilla. I’m Korra, Laura’s friend?” She stuck out one of her hands and offered it to Carmilla. Carmilla frowned, but took the hand and shook it firmly. Korra winced slightly, but hid it well.

“I want to talk to you.” Carmilla stated, bluntly.

“I, uh, I figured as much,” Korra rubbed the back of her neck, “What did you uh, want to talk about?”

“I wanted to apologize for our…encounter the other day. I thought you were someone else.” Carmilla kept her gaze steady, searching for any tell-tale signs of supernatural – or more importantly, evil – blood in the blubbering girl standing before her. So far, most of what Carmilla could sense was an amount of dorkiness that rivaled Laura’s, but there was something else in Korra’s aura that made Carmilla’s hair stand on end. It was something…primal. Ancient, even.

“Hey, it’s no biggie,” Korra’s shoulders relaxed a little, “I thought you were just a Quidditch player and were trying to get under my skin or something. It worked! Ha, ha…”

“Listen, I need to you answer a few questions.” Carmilla couldn’t quite pinpoint what that primal aura was, but she was determined to figure out if Korra was at least who she said she was and not Kyoshi under some beautification spell.

“Oh, okay!” Korra shifted her weight, “I can answer some questions, sure! Are these like, what Laura does when she basically interviews you and – “

“No, I need to know a few things to make sure you’re not…someone else,” Carmilla shifted her weight as well, trying to maintain the air of authority between the two. “Have you ever heard of someone named Kyoshi?”

Korra raised an eyebrow and bobbed her neck. “Kyoshi? Can’t say that I have, do they go to Hogwarts?”

“No, fortunately I think I can say that they don’t” Carmilla sighed, already pretty sure that Korra was indeed Korra and not the old hag in disguise, “But she looks a great deal like you do, only uglier and more evil.”

“Um, am I supposed to say ‘thank you’ or ‘that’s good’?” Korra was getting less anxious, but more confused.

“Neither. But answer me this: have you ever heard of dopplegangers?”

“I think that was a term on my Defense Against the Dark Arts midterm a while back, but I couldn’t tell you what it means, no. Damn, I’m sucking at these questions so fa—“

“A doppleganger is a mysterious, supernatural being whose body and, often, soul, reincarnates in a magical bloodline,” Carmilla interrupted, “I used to believe that dopplegangers were a myth until…I met you.”

Korra blinked. “I-I’m sorry?”

“Well, actually, when I first met you I thought you were an old hag but that’s beside the point.”

“Hey watch it!”

“Hags are magical beings, too. I…have heard of one…and her name was Kyoshi. You look exactly, even identically, like her. And so when I saw you in the hall, I assumed you were a nasty, evil hag who had undergone some kind of cosmetic surgery or spell.”

“…I see…” Korra’s face looked like it had been struck by lightning.

“Now that I’ve met you it wasn’t hard to figure out that you weren’t the hideous creature in disguise but rather, her doppleganger.”

Korra stood with a blank expression on her face. “What does all of this mean? For me?”

Carmilla shook her head. “Unfortunately, I can’t say. I’ve been doing some research in the library but I haven’t come across Kyoshi’s predecessor’s or, if possible, descendants, so I couldn’t even tell you if you were legitimately her doppleganger or not.”

“I kind of hope I’m not. What if that hag blood is in my bloodstream, too? Do I have some sort of evil genes?”

Carmilla snorted, “I’ve only talked with you for no more than five minutes but I’d be willing to guess you’re not an evil old hag, Korra.” Korra huffed out a sigh of relief. “However, another thing I wanted to bring up was that perhaps, this isn’t something to go around telling people.”

Korra frowned again. “Why not?”

“Because neither of us are exactly sure what to tell people, for one, but also because from what I’ve read, doppleganger blood is supposedly both extremely rare and valuable. If news of your possibly priceless blood reached the wrong ears…”

“Yeah, okay, deal, don’t tell anyone. Got it.” Korra nodded her head rapidly.

Carmilla paused to look Korra in the eye for a moment. “You know, I wasn’t planning on meeting Korra’s best friend under these circumstances.”

Korra laughed dryly. “I was kind of hoping that we’d argue about who got Laura on Friday nights, or that I’d have to pay you to bring her to our Quidditch matches, or even give you the ‘safety’ talk.”

“We can always switch off during the weekends. And I’ll agree to take her to Quidditch matches free of charge, so long as you don’t bother us the mornings after I get her,“ Carmilla smirked.

“Oh god, too soon, too soon,” Korra blushed and put a hand over her eyes. The image of Laura and Carmilla having a “morning after” – or even worse, the “night before” – was a little scarring.

Carmilla chuckled. “We can talk about all that doppleganger nonsense later. I say we go for a walk and get to know each other a little better. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do in this situation?”

“I guess so,” Korra shrugged happily, “Honestly, I’m not that great at relationship advice, or handling friends dating people, or actually anything related to romance. But a walk sounds nice; I have quite a few questions I’d like to ask about whoever the hell you are and what you plan on doing to my tiny gay friend.”

“You sure you really want that answer?” Carmilla turned and winked, causing Korra to blush and laugh again, only this time much more loudly. “Glad to hear she’s gay, though.” She liked this Korra girl much better than she thought she would.

_****************_

“I didn’t realize how much I needed this,” Asami stopped mid-sentence and smiled at her brilliant friend. “Thanks, I uh, feel better.”

“No problem, pal,” LaF shrugged, “But next time, don’t wait for me to prod to feel justified in venting. That’s what friends are for, right?”

They good-naturedly punched Asami in the arm. “Although, I must admit, I feel like there’s something else that you’re not telling me…”

Professor Karnstein suddenly appeared behind Asami and placed a cold hand on her shoulder. “Ms. Sato,” she said, making both geniuses jump in their lab seats, “I’m afraid you’ll have to continue your tirade elsewhere. Class has been over for twenty minutes.”

“Oh, oh my goodness, I’m so sorry!” Asami scrambled to put her things away and LaFontaine silently did likewise.

“No need for apologies,” the professor’s voice was sickeningly sweet, as though her throat had been coated with a tangy syrup before she came to class, “Just leave. I would like to retire for the evening.”

“Y-yes, of course,” Asami stuttered, disbelieving how intimidating this professor could be, “We’ll be right out.”

She and LaF scampered out the door. Professor Karnstein slinked behind them, turning off the lights and locking the massive, oak doors. Asami watched out of the corner of her eye as the professor slid down the hallway and around the corner.

“She is, she is…” Asami started, chuckling to herself, in awe.

“She is something else, “ LaF finished for her, sharing in her stupor. “I am always surprised at how scary she actually is.”  


“Seriously,“ Asami shook her head, “It’s like she’s a snake or a bat or something.”

LaFontaine’s eyebrows shot up. “I wonder if she would let us get some blood samples so that we could find that out!”

Asami stopped and faced them, stone-faced. LaFontaine snorted and the two erupted into fits of laughter. The two laughed until their sides cramped and they both ended up on the floor, leaning against the wall. Asami wiped tears from her eyes and sniffled a little bit, almost forgetting about her most pressing stressor.

LaFontaine coughed out a final giggle and looked over, noticing Asami’s tears of laughter growing a little larger with each sniffle. Her lower lip quivered slightly and she tried to swallow a massive lump in her throat. They put an arm around Asami’s shoulders and Asami broke. She turned into their shoulder and crumbled, her walls tumbling down with each sob that racked her body. They put their other arm around her and stroked her hair, gently.

“I…I…I love…” Asami muffled, “I’m…I’m so…”

“Amazing? Brilliant? Kind? Talented?” LaF offered quietly, “You’re so what, Asami? If you say anything other than those I won’t let you cry on me anymore.”

“I’m so...in love…” Asami squeezed her eyes shut and wrapped her arms around LaF’s waist, burying herself into their robes.

“Oh.” LaFontaine closed their eyes and rested their head on the back of the wall. By the looks of it, Asami wasn’t talking about a boy.  They knew this scenario all too well.

“Who is she?” They asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Asami tensed. “How…how’d you…” Her grip tightened on their robes.

“This may be the one subject in which I have a little more experience, or even knowledge, than you do, buddy,” they chuckled, “Believe it or not, I have my own little queer background.”

Asami pulled away, embarrassed. “Wait, ‘queer’? I thought that was a bad word?”

LaFontaine shook their head, “Nope. The gays and lesbians and bisexuals and trans-folk and non-binary folk and such all reclaimed the word. It’s kind of powerful, when you think about it – especially now that the term ‘queer’ is more, like, all-inclusive, dontcha think?”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Asami nodded, “But I’m not so sure I want to identify as….that.”

“And that is a-okay, pal,” LaF wiped some mascara from Asami’s cheeks, “But, if you don’t mind me asking, why not?”

Asami looked down. “I just, well like, I don’t want to.” LaFontaine raised an eyebrow. “I mean, I don’t even want to…love…her…” Asami swallowed another huge lump and squinted, determined not to break down so intensely again.

“The words you are using are extremely simple, but my sensors are detecting a deeper meaning. Mind if I probe for further information?”

Asami grinned, “I don’t think I have a choice at this point; I’ve basically destroyed your robes.”

“Oh, god, yes you have,” LaF scrunched their nose at the moisture covering their shoulders, “Yes, you definitely owe me a deeper explanation.” Asami snickered. “And, new robes.”

The dark-haired Ravenclaw sighed and put her head back on LaF’s shoulder. “I don’t know where to start.”

“Start with what you’re thinking about right now.”

“I’m thinking about Ko…about her.”

“And? What do you think of her?”

“She’s strong. And beautiful, but not conceded. She can be a little hotheaded, but only when someone offends someone she loves. She’s funny. She’s a huge dork,” Asami closed her eyes and smiled, “she has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met, and…”

“…and what?”

Asami re-opened her eyes. “And very straight.”

“Ah.”

“Yes. And I, Ms. Asami Sato,” she stuck up her nose and started speaking in some horrible, stuffy accent, “am daughter of the Minister of Magic and hot topic of _The Republic Herald_ and _The Daily Prophet,_ alleged mechanical and chemical genius, and wanted model at basically every fashion industry in the wizarding world.”

“Huh,’ LaFontaine gawked, “that is quite the resume, ma’am.”

“It is if you care about all that shit,” Asami rolled her watery eyes, “but it sucks if you want to marry your female best friend and run a cute little mechanics shop in a comfortable home somewhere tucked behind a quiet town.”

LaFontaine snorted. “I had no idea you were such a hopeless romantic! Why can’t you do all that anyways?”

Asami’s frown deepened. “Because I am not allowed to be gay. I’d been planning on a heterosexual, successful, upper-class family long before I totally came to terms with the fact that I’m attracted to women.” Most of her makeup had washed off her face by now, and the bags under her eyes stuck out like a stain on a brand new towel. Her entire demeanor screamed ‘defeated’ and ‘tired’, and it was absolutely killing LaFontaine.

“I’ll never understand what you’re going through, because I’m not you,” LaF put their hand on Asami’s, “But I can definitely understand how hard it can be to be so sick and tired of being sick and tired.” Asami swallowed a third lump, nodding.

“I’m supposed to be, well, perfect,” Asami whispered.

“And I think you’re about as close to perfection as they come, my friend,” LaF squeezed her hand, “But unfortunately, you’ll never get there.”

Asami’s brow furrowed, taken aback by their sudden change of tactics.

“Not because you aren’t perfect just the way you are, but because the kind of perfect you feel like you’re supposed to be – the kind of perfect that the press, your father, the entire wizarding world wants – does not exist. It’s always changing, always getting crazier. Thinner, smarter, hotter, curvier, straighter, bolder, less bold, sassier, sweeter…it’s never ending. And, unattainable.” Asami looked away, thinking.

“My advice for you, Ms. Sato,“ LaFontaine winked, “would be to forget what you’re ‘supposed’ to do, or who you’re ‘supposed’ to be, because those things always change and you’ll never be happy or satisfied. Go out there and just be Asami Sato, and fuck anyone who disapproves of her because Asami Sato is the most badass of nerds on the entire planet, let alone wizarding worlds.”

Asami gulped and crashed into LaFontaine and hugged them until they thought their eyes would pop out of their head.

“Thank you,” she said, “Really, just, thank you.”

“Anytime, hopeless. You know I’m gonna start calling you that, right?” They giggled, “You’re the most hopeless of romantics I’ve ever encountered, you know that?”

“Shut up, you’re ruining the moment.”


	10. Some Things Are Complicated, Some Things Aren't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Hollstein fluff and relationship development  
> *plot development  
> *pre-smut  
> *several cuss words  
> *Mako and Bolin are dorks  
> *ANGST AND DRAMA with Asami...

Laura stood outside her Astronomy classroom and glared at the closed door in front of her. God, she hated that class. She wasn’t getting the highest marks in it, either, which made her feel even more obligated to go. She liked the pictures in the textbooks, and she loved stealing glances at Carmilla in the back of the classroom, but other than that, the entire thing was a waste of time to her.

She took a deep breath and reached for the handle, preparing herself for the hour and a half of torture awaiting her.

_Hold on,_ Laura stopped before her hands grasped the handle, _The only reason I even go into that stupid classroom is to wait for, and then look at, Carmilla, who doesn’t even show up to class until a half hour has already passed, at least._ She smiled. _What if I stayed outside and waited for Carmilla?_

Laura was onto something. She pulled her hand away from the door and turned to face the hallway. If she met Carmilla on the outside of the classroom, then maybe the two of them could ditch class together.

Perfect. Laura walked a few paces down the hall and plopped herself down onto a wide stone bench. She pulled out her journal and started to sketch. She wasn’t the greatest artist when it came to technique, but she considered herself a decent doodler. Or, as she like to put it, she had a knack for illustrating her daydreams. Lately, her daydreams all looked kind of similar. She paused her current doodle and flipped back a few pages. They consisted mostly of sketches of slender girls with dark, wavy hair and deep, brown eyes.

_Huh,_ She snorted to herself, _I guess Korra was kinda right. I’m not really being all that subtle._

“I didn’t know you could draw,” Carmilla said slowly, making Laura jump and slam her journal shut. Apparently she had sat down next to Laura while she was drawing. She sat with her legs crossed sensually, and propped up her upper body on her right arm.

“You’re not half bad, cupcake.”

“You scared me! How long have you been watching me?”

“Long enough to see those beautiful pictures. Although it’s flattering, I must say it’s also a little creepy.”

Laura blushed. “Well, you’re one to talk, sneaking up on me like that! And besides, you have no reason to be flattered or creeped out – who says they’re of you?”

Carmilla reached up and pushed some of the strands out of Laura’s face, causing Laura to stop breathing for a second. “They just looked….familiar,” Laura swallowed, “You and I both know that doodling is all you do in that class you’re supposed to be in right now.”

“You and I also both know that you’ve definitely assured yourself the winner of the creepiness contest,” Laura started putting her things in her bag, “And, about that class…”

“Yes, about that class. Why aren’t you in it?” Carmilla smirked.

“Well,” Laura turned back to face the gorgeous, half-lidded eyes peering at her, “I was hoping you’d join me in, um, ditching it.”

Carmilla gasped in mock surprise. “Cupcake,” she put her hand over her mouth, but kept her fingers slightly parted and trailed them over her lips, “You know you’re asking the Teacher’s Assistant on a date to ditch class, don’t you?”

Laura bit her lip and nodded, entranced by the way Carmilla moved. “I figured, we should get to know each other when I’m not extremely drunk. Anywhere in particular you like to walk?”

Carmilla stood up from the bench and offered Laura her hand. “I have a few favorite routes, if you don’t mind taking the long way around the castle.”

“Actually, the longer the route the better. I have quite the list of questions to ask you, including how you know Korra.” Laura took the hand and hoisted herself up. She had a hard time letting the hand go, but forced herself to drop it. The two may have gotten along absurdly well, but that didn’t mean that holding hands on the second date was socially acceptable.

Carmilla started walking down the hall, towards the East Wing. “Korra?”

“Yeah, my friend from Gryffindor? I saw you wave to her during breakfast that one time.”

“Oh, right, Korra,” Carmilla’s brow furrowed, “We’d, well, run into each other before.” 

Laura frowned, “Did something happen between you two? I’m not sensing that you have the greatest relationship with each other.”

“Let’s just call it a miscommunication and some nasty first impressions.”

“So, what about your communication and impressions now? Hopefully less nasty?”

Carmilla shrugged, “Honestly, there’s not much of either. We really don’t know each other that well. But, she does kind of look like someone – a bad someone – that I used to know, and it’s hard for me to shake the reference, I guess.”

Laura looked forward, confused. “It’s hard for me to believe Korra would have any enemies, but I hope there’s nothing too seriously bad between you guys. I’d hate for there to be awkward tension or anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, like, I don’t know,” Laura smiled shyly, “I mean, Korra’s one of my best friends, and I kind of have this little hope that you and I might, see each other a lot.” She blushed deeply and glanced quickly at Carmilla.

Carmilla tried and failed to hide her smile. “I can make friends with Korra if it means seeing you a lot, sure. In fact, we did talk for a while and I’d say we bonded over…common interests.”

Laura giggled softly. “Good.” They walked in happy silence for a while, until they’d made it outside. The sun was fading into the horizon, casting a gentle, hazy sheet of gold over the forest and the fields in front of it. Carmilla often caught herself staring at the beautiful girl next to her. Yes, she was adorable, but she also held about her a quiet beauty; there was a radiance to her that shone through her small frame, like she was confident and sure and very, very _alive._ Carmilla’s face began to hurt from smiling, and she realized they hadn’t been talking very much.

“Was that your only question?” She asked, eager to return to a conversation that would distract her from her deepening crush on this tiny human.

“Oh!” Laura stopped in her tracks, “No, it isn’t! Hold on, let me pull out my list.”

Carmilla laughed. “A list? I regret bringing it back up. I was certainly enjoying the quiet.”

Laura drew her journal from her bag. “That’s actually one of my questions,” she flipped to a page towards the middle of the book, “It’s about your personality type. Are you more introverted or extroverted? Or, if you prefer less managerial questions, answer it this way: on a typical Friday night, would you rather go to a party with a bunch of people, or spend the evening in your room with a good book?”

Carmilla only laughed harder. Laura smiled, but didn’t understand what was so funny. “Or, um, I can ask a different one to start things off? Here: if you were a character in a movie, would you be the protagonist, romantic interest, or antagonist?”

“Dear goddess of mercy,” Carmilla doubled over and clutched her stomach, “Please don’t tell me you pulled the entire list of questions from the horoscope section of _The Daily Prophet.”_

Laura blushed. “…no! Pffft, who would do that?” She swiveled her bag back around to her front, “Okay fine I did but you can’t blame me for getting desperate! You’re not exactly the easiest person to figure out and I want to know more about you!”

Carmilla smiled widely and put her hand on Laura’s, preventing her from putting the journal away. “Tell ya what, cupcake. I’ll answer all of your questions in the book, if you answer a few questions for me afterwards.”

“Deal!” Laura perked up and handed Carmilla the journal and rummaged for a quill.

They sat down on some nearby flat rocks. While Carmilla scribbled her responses, Laura took the time to really look at the girl she was ditching class with.

Laura had stolen numerous glances at and with her, but now she was truly speechless by Carmilla’s beauty. It was as if she’d only gotten more beautiful since the first time Laura saw her walk into her Astronomy class. Perhaps it was the glow of the setting sun behind them, but Laura swore there was something new about Carmilla, something that wasn’t quite there on their date to the Three Broomsticks. Laura had developed a furious crush on this girl, and she was determined to figure her out. What was it about her that made her so mysterious, so attractive, so _meaningful?_

Carmilla felt Laura’s eyes on her. “Like what you see?” She commented, without looking up.

“Absolutely,” Laura responded calmly, perhaps unaware of how relaxed she’d gotten in the moment. Carmilla stopped writing and their eyes locked. Carmilla wasn’t expecting that from her, but she certainly enjoyed it. 

_*********************_

“I’m telling you, bro, we’re just meant to be together forever,” Bolin sat with his hands behind his back and his feet on the coffee table in front of him, “Maybe I should just skip the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing and just propose tomorrow! I mean she practically said ‘I do’ when I gave her those flowers. Then we could start a family, have some cute little kids…”

Mako looked up from his homework. “Bolin, that’s insane. You realize you’ve only kissed once. You haven’t even made out, yet. Plus, have you and Opal ever even talked about anything important?”

“Of course we have!” Bolin slammed a first down on the arm of his chair, “We had a little argument over whether Batman or Spiderman was cooler, but we ended up agreeing to disagree and snuggling and finishing the rest of the movie we were watching. I mean if we can get through that, we can get through anything!”

“Oh my god Bolin. Someday, you’ll come to me, exhausted and sick of being in a relationship and I’ll just be like ‘Sorry bro, you got yourself into this mess and you’re gonna have to be the one to get yourself out of it’.”

“Nope. No way, Mako,” Bolin crossed his legs, “Sure, Opal and I are still young and have yet to experience…well, a lot of things but I really, really like her!” Mako stopped writing. “I mean, like I _really_ like her. Like, she makes me want to be a better person.”

Mako put his quill down and folded his arms. “Legit?”

“Yes, legit. Plus, she’s super hot. That doesn’t hurt.”

“I guess.” Mako waited for a few seconds before talking again. “You know, Danny’s kind of…hot.”

“Dan the man?” Bolin’s forehead creased, “Yeah, I mean I guess so.”

“Well like,” Mako gulped, “She’s got nice skin.”

“Sure, sure. As far as skin goes.” Bolin put his feet on the ground and his arms on his knees, looking at Mako intently from across the room.

“Well, since you seem so excited for the Ball, I was thinking I should ask someone, too.”

“And, you’re thinking of asking Danny?” Bolin had to force his cheeks to refrain from smiling.

“I dunno, maybe. But would it be weird? You know, since we’re bros?”

“No! No no no you should _definitely_ ask her to the Ball!” Bolin bounced a little in his chair, “Bro do you like her?”

Mako wiped his palms on his jeans. “Pff, no. We’re friends. She’s a bro, even. That’d be weird if I liked a bro, bro.” Bolin wiggled an eyebrow. “No, no I’m straight, I just mean like…liking a bro – liking _Danny –_ would be like breaking the bro-code, you know?”

“If I had a dollar for every time you said the word ‘bro’ I’d have enough to bet that you like Danny.”

“Ugh! Whatever. Maybe, if I ask her, I’ll just be sure to let her know that I’d only ask her as a friend.”

“Oookayyy,” Bolin sat back in his chair with a huge grin on his face, “Talk to me when the two of you are together so we can double.”

Mako grunted and turned back to his paper. He started writing, but he couldn’t get Danny out of his mind. _Tomorrow,_ he thought, _I’ll ask her tomorrow, as planned, and just make sure she understands it’s just a friend thing._

_***********************_

Opal had to use both hands to carry the massive bundle of flowers into the Ravenclaw common room. She got several “ooh”s and “aww”s from the girls in the room, and whistles from the few guys. JP winked at her as he walked past and she blushed. She would’ve punched him gently on the arm, were it not for the four hundred roses and lilies consuming her entire upper body.

Asami rushed over and helped her carry it. She was slightly taller than Opal, and Opal appreciated the extra hands.

“Thanks,” Opal smiled brilliantly, “These are from Bolin!”

“I’d be worried if they were from anyone else,” they carried the vase up to their dorm, “If Bolin found out you had another admirer, that admirer would end up running to the Dark Forest by tomorrow morning.”

Opal giggled as they placed the massive bouquet on the windowsill next to Opal’s bed. “I don’t know, he may be a Beater but I’m not sure he would have it in him to swat a Horsefly if it bit him. He’s kind of a big softie, at heart.”

They sat on Opal’s bed and admired the flowers. “These are beautiful,” Asami said with a small smile, “Was there an occasion? Or is he just a thoughtful romantic?”

“He asked me to the Fall Ball!” Opal clasped her hands together and they both squealed like they did when they were third years and Bolin asked Opal on her first date, or when Asami’s father sent her the cutest dress in the world in fourth year. They hugged and bounced the bed

“That’s so exciting!” Asami was happy for Opal, truly, but also slightly jealous. It just seemed so easy for her.

“I know, I’m pumped!” Opal fell onto her pillow, “Ughhhhh. He’s just so _cuuuuuute!”_

Asami laughed a little and lay herself next to Opal. “He’s a lucky man, I can say that much.”

Opal turned over so they were facing. “Oh, stop it, you.” They chatted for a while about plans for Opal’s dress and hairstyle for the Ball, before Opal frowned.

“Hey, Asami,” she said, “You’re talking like you’re not going, too. Are you going to the Ball?”

Asami rolled onto her back and put her hands on her stomach. “I’m not sure, to be honest.”

“Why not? You would look _so_ hot in that slick red dress we bought over summer. You brought it, right?”

“Yeah, I brought it,” Asami looked straight at the ceiling.

“So, what’s holding you back! Afraid of all the attention that Wu kid from Hufflepuff will give you if you show up all sexy and perfect? He’d drool all over you.”

“Oh, I’m definitely afraid of that,” Asami rolled her eyes, “He’s such a goof. I’m pretty sure our parents are trying to set us up. He’s actually the end of a long line of royalty in some strange country and my father would love to see us end up together for the sake of politics.”

Opal made a face. “That’s horrible. And disgusting.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Asami sighed, “But, actually, I was maybe thinking of asking someone myself.”

Opal’s mouth dropped and she got up onto her knees. “Seriously?!” Asami blushed a little and Opal cleared her throat. “I mean, uh, oh, really? How quaint.”

“Well, I talked to LaF yesterday – LaFontaine? They’re that cool kid from Hufflepuff? You know, my Potions buddy? Yeah, them – and we talked about the Fall Ball and I realized…I should just ask them.”

Opal cocked her head. “Ask who, LaFontaine?”

Asami smiled and shook her head. Her forehead was flushing a deeper shade of red every moment. “No, they have someone else they plan on asking. I was thinking of maybe asking…someone else…”

“Oh my god Asami the suspense is killing me.”

“Well, I’m nervous! I’m not even really sure asking them is what I want to do!” Asami buried her face in Opal’s pillow. “I was thinking, maybe, I kind of want to…I was thinking of asking Ko…Korra.”

“Well it’s about fucking time.”

Asami flipped her body back over and looked at Opal with tears in her eyes and an incredibly red face. “Wait, what?”

“Asami,” Opal beamed, “I’ve known you had a fat crush on Korra for a long time.”

A few tears leaked from Asami’s shining, emerald eyes. “Well then why didn’t you tell me?” Opal laughed and wrapped the tall, dark and beautiful woman in her own olive-skinned arms.

“I think you should ask her, Asami.” Opal gave her a squeeze, earning a sniffle from the mass of long, wavy black hair being smothered in her chest, “Thank you for opening up to me, though. I can tell that wasn’t an easy thing to do.”

“I really like her,” Asami pulled away from her and turned over. Opal wiggled herself up to Asami’s back and wrapped an arm around Asami’s waist. “But I’m so scared.”

Opal pulled her in closer. “I know, but you know what?” Asami grabbed Opal’s hand and played with the metal ring on her fingers.

“What?”

“I think she is just as scared.”

Asami tensed. “Scared of what, me? For being…you know…into her?”

“No, silly,” Opal kissed the back of Asami’s head. “Scared of her feelings for you. Just as you are scared of your feelings for her.”

“Don’t go putting those thoughts into my head.”

“Alright, alright I won’t bring it up again. But, I still think you should ask her!” Opal rested her chin on Asami’s toned shoulder. “Even if she doesn’t have the same feelings for you, it might be a load off your back just to talk about it.” Asami nodded. “Plus, maybe she won’t have feelings now, but when she sees you in that red dress, she’ll drool all over you even more than Wu will!”

Asami chuckled. “Let’s hope so.” She strained her eyes to look at the short-haired, olive-toned girl on her shoulder. “Maybe I should bring it up just like I did with you! That seemed to work out pretty well in my favor.”

Opal snorted. “Unfortunately for you, baby, I’m taken.” They both laughed and Opal nuzzled her mouth against Asami’s neck. “Although, I must say, you’re a wonderful little spoon for being eight feet tall.”

“You’re the one nuzzling and kissing and all that shit!” Asami turned over and bumped their noses. “If I weren’t so convinced you were head over heels for this Bolin guy, I’d say you were even flirting with me.”

The room instantly shrank and both women felt a tension settle in. Asami’s eyebrow twitched. 

“Does me being out about liking another woman make you uncomfortable?"

Opal kept smiling, but her something changed in her eyes. “Actually, quite the opposite,” Opal whispered. Her jade eyes flickered down to Asami’s lips, which were only a few inches away.

It was a brief flicker, but Asami saw it. It happened. Her own emerald eyes locked onto Opal’s jade and for a few seconds, the only sound in the room was of their strained breathing. Opal didn’t dare move her arm off of Asami’s waist, and Asami didn’t dare untangle their fingers.

Suddenly, Opal crashed her mouth onto Asami’s. The kiss only lasted a second, but it was enough to drag both women’s heartbeats up to a dangerous pace. Opal’s eyes were wide as she drew herself away.

“I’m…I’m…” Opal began, but Asami didn’t let her finish. Asami grabbed Opal’s face and pulled her back in, kissing her violently.

The tension in the air broke. They tugged at each other’s clothes, sucked the air out of each other’s mouths.

Opal ripped off Asami’s coat, popping off a few large buttons and exposing Asami’s tight shoulders. Asami reached around Opal’s back and grabbed her backside furiously, earning a gentle moan from the jade-eyed girl now clutching the back of Asami’s head.

Further and further they went, desperate to quell the fire within each of their bosoms. Asami tore off Opal’s tank and slid her hand up and down Opal’s tight stomach. Opal bit Asami’s lip and tugged, before shoving her tongue into Asami’s gaping mouth. Asami groaned and responded in kind, battling Opal’s tongue with her own. Asami bit down on Opal’s tongue gently, scraping it as Opal retracted.

Their hands moved swiftly and intensely. Asami’s nails clawed at Opal’s bare lower back, while Opal’s hands rubbed Asami’s backside heavily. Asami moved her hands around towards Opal’s front, and slid them up to Opal’s bra. Opal straddled Asami so their legs and grabbed the taller woman’s slender hands. Asami watched, wide-eyed as Opal placed her hands on her breasts. Both women whined at the contact, and Opal’s eyes rolled back into her head. Asami palmed Opal’s breasts gently, in awe of how good they felt under her hands.

Asami propelled herself up and pushed Opal fervently onto her back. Now, Opal was wide-eyed, as Asami pinned her to the bed with her long legs and stripped to her own bra, rotating her body in a slow circle as she pulled off her shirt from over her shoulders.

Opal salivated at the sight of the curves on Asami’s stomach and breasts. Asami tossed her shirt to the side and brought her body down slowly, placing soft kisses along Opal’s collarbone and the bottom of neck. Opal squirmed underneath her, her hands anxiously skimming across the dent in Asami’s lower back.

Opal brought her knee up to the crotch of Asami’s pants, making Asami gasp against Opal’s skin. Asami lowered herself onto Opal’s leg, unsure of why it felt so good.

Opal palmed Asami’s breast with one hand and grabbed Asami’s hip with her other, pushing her further onto her leg.

The fire that was supposed to be quelled roared into action, igniting Asami’s body. Her whole frame yearned for something, something intense and explosive. Visions of Korra with closed eyes and an open mouth came into her mind. She saw Korra mouthing something, heard her faintly calling her name.

Asami opened her eyes and looked at Opal. _Wait, what?_ “…Opal?”

Opal’s eyes shot from being low-lidded and hungry to wide and shocked. She threw her knee back to the bed and covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh god.”

Asami sat back onto her heels and ran a hand through her hair. “Oh, _god.”_

Opal sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. “Um…did we just do that?”

“No….” Asami shook her head, her eyes glazed over, lost in thought. “No there’s no way.”

Opal rested her chin on her knees and closed her eyes. “We definitely just did that.”

“Yes. Yes, we did.” Asami whispered. The fire in her stomach extinguished and she looked up at the girl she’d just made out with. She and Opal had been good friends for several years, now. Asami was there when Opal got her first period and Opal’s home was open to Asami any time that Asami’s family life got too stressful.

A long pause stretched over them, hovering above their black-haired heads.

Asami folded her arms and leaned into the bed’s headboard. “You know what? I don’t care.”

“Huh?” Opal opened her eyes with a nervous look on her face. “What…what do you mean?”

“I mean, we just made out. And we’re both girls. And it was hot, and I don’t care.” A smile formed slowly on Asami’s slightly swollen lips.

Opal’s face mirrored Asami’s. “Yeah. It was hot, wasn’t it?”

“Damn straight it was.”

“Well, actually I don’t know how ‘straight’ it was, but that’s exactly the point, isn’t it?”

Asami laughed, “Yes, that’s exactly the point, I guess!”

Opal snorted and blushed. “So, moral of the story, I’m gay too?” Asami laughed again. “But I like Bolin, so I mean I’m not lesbian. Oh well, who cares. Labels are labels, and I’m gonna avoid all of them. But damn, girl. You are sexy as fuck.”

Asami tried to wink, but kept laughing. “You started it, you sexy son of a bitch.”

Opal released her knees and leaned forward, wiggling her eyebrows. “Don’t you know it!” She licked her lips and it was Asami’s turn to blush. It should’ve been extremely awkward, but somehow, it wasn’t. Asami shook her head and took a deep breath.

“What were we talking about? How I’m going to ask Korra to the dance?”

Opal hopped off of her bed and began redressing. “Oh shit I don’t know. And right now, I don’t really care. Not like, about you asking Korra, that’s awesome and you should do it. But like, my emotions are all out of wack and I don’t think I can handle another tangent like what just happened for today.”

“So, should I ask again tomorrow?” Asami teased, “I’ll be here, if you’re hungry for more.”

Opal chuckled and tucked her tank top into her leggings. “Oh, I’m hungry for more, and that’s what weirds me out.” Asami gawked and slapped her in the arm. “No, no it’s not you. You’re one hell of a kisser and that bod…damn, I need to go to the bathroom and then maybe I’ll go for a run. I’ll see you tomorrow. I feel like we should be talking about whatever the hell just happened between us but to be honest, I kind of want to just go and run and not think about it.”

Asami laughed the entire time Opal went to the bathroom and then jogged out of the door. Her mind raced as she went over to her own bed and sorted through her thoughts. She pulled out her journal and started writing. Her sentences weren’t cohesive – and hardly even coherent – but she was able to at least put into words that she didn’t have romantic feelings towards Opal, and she _did_ have romantic feelings for Korra. She knew for sure that she liked kissing women. Holy hell, did she like kissing women. So, she guessed that meant that she had sexual feelings towards…women in general? Or, at least, the more she thought about kissing Opal again, the more she wanted to describe it as sounding fun but not exciting. Perhaps, Opal liked kissing women, too, and just didn’t know it until now. Maybe that was why there was just so much tension in the room! Maybe, they’d just felt so comfortable and open together that they were able to relax enough to experiment.

Asami finished writing and tossed her journal to the side. Analyzing theories or mechanics or business was simple; there were numbers, instructions. Analyzing feelings, however, had no end. It felt like the more she thought about it, the less she understood.

One thing was absolutely certain: she _really_ wanted to kiss Korra, now. Her body was finally opening up to the idea that she could embrace her feelings for Korra, and it was overwhelming. She felt like a preteen again, obsessing over every detail and imagining every situation where they might have their first kiss.

Asami needed a nap. With all the emotional hubbub, she realized she really couldn’t wait to ask Korra to the dance. _In fact,_ she thought excitedly, before falling deeply asleep, _maybe I’ll ask her tomorrow._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope that brief Opalsami wasn't overshadowed with shock! I didn't plan on it happening but it kind of did and then literally my hands were doing things and my mind couldn't keep up. Guess I was just *sappy, dramatic voice* ~~listening to my characters~~.  
> But then I kept it. I feel like both girls just felt so comfortable and open, and there was so much tension at the same time, and it was all just new and exciting, and omg. But that happens in real life!! Confusion, internal growth & discovery...some deep shit, man.


	11. Fluffy Ducklings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Carmilla plans on asking Laura to the dance  
> *Korra is still in denial. She is stressed, poor little gaybie.   
> *Danny and Korra are oblivious  
> *Asami and LaF plan on Asami asking Korra!  
> *Korra asks Asami about dopplegangers  
> *I AM FALLING IN LOVE WITH ASAMI SLOWLY. no she isn't a fictional character wut shuddup you're crying im not crying stahp

Carmilla had attended hundreds of parties. Perhaps even _thousands_. And yet, in her three hundred years, she couldn’t remember being as excited for anything as she was for the stupid Fall Ball this year. It had to be perfect! According to Korra, Laura had been chittering about the Fall Ball since the hour it was announced, and Carmilla wanted to exceed whatever crazy expectations the tiny girl had dreamt up. Carmilla had mastered the art of waltzing and wasn’t necessarily nervous about that, but she was definitely nervous about basically everything else.

And, to top things off, Carmilla had yet to ask Laura to go with her.

If Carmilla were thinking clearly, she would have no problem going along with one of the dozens of romantic dates she’d been on in her life. But she wasn’t thinking clearly. She was thinking very foggily. Her brain was erratically sorting through the best case scenarios and the worst case scenarios. Endless questions bounced around in Carmilla’s skull like they were racing to see who could break through first.

_What if Laura doesn’t even want to go with me? Nonsense, she’s almost as head over heels for me as I am for her. Wait, no, I’m not head over heels that’s ridiculous. I’m a vampire, not a goddamn love stricken mermaid. But, if I don’t love her, then how could she love me? No! Shit! I do love her! Nah, I can’t fall for such a fragile human, that would be foolish of me. But what is love if it’s naught for fools? Okay, so maybe I do have more than just a little crush on the girl. What if she doesn’t feel the same way? Or, what if she’d already been asked by someone?_

She paced through the courtyard, muttering to herself in the light of the stars and a half moon. She held a small, polished, mahogany box, containing a gold-chained necklace with a single yellow sunstone at the end. The stone was small, but it was encased in an elegant arrangement of golden swirls that extended from the bottom of the gem to give the impression of movement. Carmilla picked it out because it reminded her of the two things that gave her hope: shooting stars, and this tiny, human girl named Laura.

Carmilla stopped walking to open the box up and look at the necklace again. It certainly was beautiful. She hoped Laura liked it.

Carmilla picked up the pendant and smiled. She wasn’t sure why the color yellow reminded her so much of Laura, or why Laura reminded her of the color yellow. Yellow was usually a gross color, like rotten eggs or stains on an aging piece of paper. But Laura was a different yellow, a bright yellow full of laughter and springtime flowers and ducklings.

_Shit, again with the ducklings!_ Carmilla thought. She was seriously losing it over this human.

Something flashed in the corner of her eye and she shut the box and hid it behind her back. She looked up to see Laura in the hallway surrounding the courtyard, coming her way. Carmilla bit the inside of her cheek and moved from one foot to the next. _What was it about this girl that makes me so, jittery?_

Laura approached quickly, with that confounded dorky smile on her adorable face. “I got your owl! Or, your cat, I should say. It was the cutest little cat I’d ever seen, by the way! Oh, and also, I have to admit that your note-writing skills have improved since last time.” She bounced on her toes and rubbed her arm.

Carmilla’s chest warmed at Laura’s dorky sweetness. There is was again, _warmth_. Carmilla wanted to drop the box and kiss her, right there, without saying a word in greeting, but her nerves got the best of her.

“Hello to you too, cupcake,” She stepped forward, wanting to at least hug Laura but unsure if it would be fitting.

“Hello indeed! So, how long are we going to be out here? I didn’t bring a jacket!” Laura continued bouncing and rubbing her arms, both because of the nighttime chill and because she was anxious.

“No jacket? Even when I asked you to meet me in the courtyard _outside?”_ Carmilla pursed her lips, teasingly. She shook off her own leather jacket and handed it over to Laura, but made sure to keep the mahogany box hidden from Laura’s view behind her back. Laura accepted the jacket sheepishly. The black leather looked a little goofy with the rest of Laura’s school girl outfit of a plaid skirt, white polo and sneakers, but then again, Carmilla kind of liked it. Laura could pull anything off.

“Well, I got your note and I just kind of ran out the door!” Laura put her hands into the pockets. It fit her surprisingly well. “But thanks. I feel kind of badass in this leather. How does it look?” She crossed her arms menacingly and scrunched up her face. Carmilla smiled; Laura looked about as “badass” as a kitten playing with a ball of yarn.

“You look just as cute as you always do,” Carmilla reached down and tugged at the bottom of the jacket, straightening it out. Laura relaxed her arms with a little pout. “I hate to break it to you, cupcake, but cupcakes just aren’t very menacing.”

“Well, what if I don’t want to be a cupcake?”

“What would you like to be?”

Laura walked over to a nearby bench. “I don’t know. Actually, I’ll stick with cupcake. As long as I’m a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting. None of that vanilla-on-vanilla crap.”

“I didn’t know you were so averse to vanilla.”

“I don’t dislike it, I just think chocolate is better. Except for if we’re talking about scents! In which case, Toasted Vanilla is a staple and chocolate, well, I don’t think there are such things as chocolate smells and if there are they’re probably weird.”

“You’ve got quite a lot to say about two flavors of desserts, don’t you?”

“Oh, absolutely. And don’t even get me started about strawberry – that’s a whole other discussion.”

Carmilla chuckled. “Are you hungry? Is that why you’re talking about food so much?”

“Actually, no. I had a doughnut and two pieces of apple pie at dinner tonight so I’m kind of stuffed,” Laura patted her stomach, “Even if I was still hungry, I don’t know if chocolate or vanilla would be smart right about now. I’m already kind of bouncy and anxious, any more sugar would make me explode!”

“You’re anxious, huh?”

“Well, yeah! I mean, not only am I hyped up on apple pie filling, but then you send a cat in the middle of the night with a note that says ‘I want to see you -- Meet me in the outside courtyard just west of the cliff in ten minutes’? Of course I’m anxious! What did you want to see me for?”

“Well, I always love seeing you, but I wanted to talk to you about something,” Carmilla’s cheeks burned and her lips pulled back into a crooked smile.

Carmilla pulled the box out from behind her back and held it in her lap. “I, I was, um, I saw this and I thought of you –” She opened it and Laura’s mouth dropped “—I was thinking, you know, about the Fall Ball coming up and then I saw this and I thought of you and I just wanted to give it to you at the dance.”

Laura’s mouth remained open, but she looked up at Carmilla with a smug grin.

Carmilla’s face heated up rapidly. “I mean, shit, I wanted to give this to you and then ask you to the dance.”

“Oh, Carm!” Laura giggled and threw herself at the blushing vampire. “I was hoping you’d ask!” Carmilla sighed a breath of relief and hugged her back.

“I was hoping you’d say yes,” Carmilla whispered, “So, does this mean yes?

Laura pulled back and smirked. “Yes to what, the ‘giving it to you’ part or the ‘going with you’ part?”

Carmilla rolled her eyes, but played along. “Don’t make me choose.”

“Then I’m going to say yes to both and hope that I know what I’m getting myself into,” Laura winked and looked at the box again. “But really, thank you for the necklace. You really didn’t have to do that.”

Carmilla picked up the box and scooted closer to Laura on the bench. “Yes, I did.” She took the necklace out and held it in her palm. “When I saw it, it made me smile, which is hard to do. You make me smile, too. I wanted to make you smile, for a change.” She placed the necklace around Laura’s neck and locked the clasp.

Laura picked up the pendant. “It’s...beautiful.” She turned to Carmilla and her chocolate eyes shone as they studied Carmilla’s embarrassed expression.

“Yes, you are.” Carmilla’s face was a brilliant shade of red. Something in the back of her mind was yelling at her to stop flirting and start getting a grip of reality, but she wouldn’t listen. She paid full attention to the yellow bundle of dork that was admiring the gemstone in her new necklace with reverence and awe.

“Carm?” Laura said, still playing with the pendant, “Why yellow?”

Carmilla gulped. “If you don’t like it, I can take it back.”

Laura dropped the pendant and put her hand on Carmilla’s. “No, no it’s perfect, I was just curious. I love yellow, but it’s not a common color to give to someone as a gift.”

“You’re a very yellow person, cupcake,” Carmilla smiled softly, “You remind me of, uh…”

“Of what? Geez, Carm, you’re getting all deep and sentimental tonight.”

“Even if I told you that you remind me of fluffy ducklings?”

Laura blinked. “Fluffy ducklings?”

“Er, yeah. The really quacky, fluffy ones. Like, you know, baby ducks?” Carmilla ran a hand through her hair.

Laura barked out a laugh. “You went from ‘you make me smile, which is hard to do’ to ‘you remind me of fluffy ducklings’ extremely quickly, Carm.”

Carmilla shrugged. “I made you smile, didn’t it?”

Laura’s smile reached across her entire face. “Yes, you did.” She leaned over and set her head on Carmilla’s shoulder. “You make me smile a lot, though.”

“Good. You deserve to smile a lot,” Carmilla rested her head on top of Laura’s, and wrapped her arms around her.

_************************************_

Laura bounded through the halls and up to the Gryffindor common room. Her heart raced and her pendant bounced confidently against her chest. She burst through the common room doors, making several people jump.

“Where’s Korra?” She asked one small second year, breathlessly. He pointed up the stairs towards the girl’s dormitory. Laura thanked the terrified little boy and ran as fast as her tiny, giddy legs would carry her.

“Korra!” She blurted as soon as she entered the room. Korra sat up hastily in her bed, hitting her forehead against the frame. Danny and several other girls were in the room as well, and they all gasped at the glimmer of Laura’s shiny new necklace.

“Korra, she asked me! Carmilla asked me to the ball!”

“That’s great!” Korra rubbed the bruising spot on her forehead as Laura pummeled her back to the mattress. “I’m so excited for you! And check out that rock, is that from her too?”

Laura nodded furiously. She kneeled on Korra’s bed and picked up the yellow gemstone pendant. “Isn’t it _beautiful??_ I mean, _she’s_ beautiful. And she told me that _I’m_ beautiful, and I’m like a fluffy duckling, and that I make her smile, just like this necklace, and then I said she makes me smile, and I’m so excited for the dance I can’t even handle it, and we’re gonna get married, and –“

“Woah, woah, woah, calm down Hollis,” Danny walked over and sat down on the seat next to Korra’s bed. “What was that about a ‘fluffy duckling’?”

“Well, I asked her about why she chose the color yellow and she said it was because I remind her of fluffy ducklings,” Laura said, happily entranced by the intricate designs of her new jewelry.

Korra and Danny looked at each other and laughed. Laura looked up with frustration. “Hey! Don’t laugh, it’s cute!”

“No, it’s cute alright,” Korra snorted, “It’s just, I can’t imagine Carmilla physically speaking the word ‘fluffy’. It’s like, not even a part of her vocabulary.”

“Or ‘duckling’! She must be whipped already to be using words like those to describe you, Hollis.”

“I wouldn’t say whipped! Just, a romantic, that’s all,” Laura shrugged and went back to admiring the gemstone.

Danny looked back at Korra. “Actually, now that I’ve thought about it more, ‘fluffy duckling’ perfectly describes Laura.”

“Absolutely,” Korra grinned, “A fluffy duckling who is falling in love with a moody, black cat.”

“Oh my gosh totally!” Danny nodded, “If Laura is a duckling, Carmilla is a kitten.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “You two are three years old sometimes, I swear.”

“Hey, your girlfriend is the one using baby animal references. I’d say she’s the kindergartner out of the three of us,” Korra fist bumped Danny.

“You think she’s my girlfriend??” Laura gasped, “How can I tell? I mean, we practically spend every free moment together but we haven’t even kissed yet! There’s no way we’re together-together. Right?”

“Wait, after all those walks and after ditching so many classes, you two still haven’t even kissed?” Danny gaped.

Korra looked uncomfortable. “Who says they need to kiss?”

“Well, they don’t, but it could be the roadblock between them and official dating status,” Danny raised her eyebrow at Korra, confused at her discomfort.

“I should go find her and kiss her right now!” Laura beamed.

“Hold on there, ducky,” Danny grabbed her shoulders, “It’s way too late for you to be roaming the castle all love-drunk and even more oblivious than you normally are. Wait until tomorrow, then you two can suck face all you want.”

Korra squirmed at the mention of “sucking face”. She hadn’t thought much about it before, but she was a little uneasy about Laura wanting Carmilla that way.

“Or, you know, you could wait a while before, erm, ‘sucking face’,” Korra muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Danny to hear. 

“You’re probably right, Danny,” Laura huffed, “In that case, I’m going to head to bed so tomorrow comes sooner!” She skipped off to her side of the room and threw on her polka-dotted pajamas. “Night, guys!” She turned off her head lamp and nestled into the covers.

Danny tried to read Korra’s contorted face but decided it wasn’t a good time to ask. She patted Korra on the back and walked over to her own bed.

Korra lay back down and pulled her quilt over her shoulders. She couldn’t stop thinking about Laura kissing Carmilla. Or, actually, it wasn’t really Carmilla. It was just a girl. And, actually, it wasn’t Laura. It was just another girl. Korra turned off her own lamp and slammed her head against her pillow. She dreamt that night of girls kissing girls and several times, she woke up in the night in a cold sweat. Sometimes, she dreamt that _she_ was one of the girls kissing other girls.

She tried to get her mind off of it by thinking more about what Carmilla said about her being a doppleganger. Korra liked Carmilla enough, but she wasn’t sure how to feel about the possibility of being a doppleganger…whatever that meant.

Rather than exhaust itself and fall asleep, her mind switched back and forth between the dreams of kissing girls and the talk of being a doppleganger. Eventually, she decided she’d talk to Asami tomorrow about it, about her dreams and her conversation with Carmilla.

Korra shuddered at the thought of bringing up her dreams to Asami. In the past, whenever she’d had troubling dreams or thoughts, Asami would be one of the first people Korra talked to. Now, however, Korra wasn’t so sure she wanted Asami to know about these dreams. She decided that she would just bring up the conversation with Carmilla.

* _******************_

Danny was thinking a lot about that weird interaction with Mako the other day. He acted really strange. It was like his mood was all over the place and she couldn’t keep up. Had she said something? Was he just tired or stressed, like he said? What was going on with him?

She especially kept thinking about when he unbuttoned his shirt and started talking about working out. It was like he was… _flirting_ , or something. That was the strangest part of that whole situation. Of course, that was also Danny’s favorite part. Well, no, okay, not ‘favorite’…more like, the part that she remembered the most clearly. She’d seen him change his jersey a hundred times in front of her and was never phased. They’d taken a trip to the lake every summer together, sometimes even skinny dipping at night. None of those times seemed as…erm, easy to remember as when Mako simply unbuttoned his collared shirt.

Danny shook her head. What was she thinking? Just because she’d decided to start looking for romantic options doesn’t mean she should start looking at Mako as a romantic option. That would be the strangest of all. Besides, he probably wasn’t flirting that night anyways. Or, if he was flirting, his mood changed so many times in the minutes afterwards that he probably wouldn’t be up to doing that again.

_Doing that again,_ Danny’s brain redirected its thoughts towards Mako undressing again. He was unbuttoning that collared shirt again. He had that small smile, those intense, fiery eyes, his mouth slightly parted…

_Ew, stop!_ Danny picked up her pace. She was on her way to Quidditch practice, she couldn’t have these weirdly sexual thoughts about Mako now! She entered the women’s changing room and went straight to her locker.

She really appreciated the fact that she had her own locker. Only a few girls in the whole school did, and most of them were on the Quidditch team, like she and Korra. She decorated it cutely, she thought, with banners and stickers and notes from her teammates or friends. Her favorite item was a small, moving picture of she, Mako, Bolin and Korra after winning against Slytherin during their third year. That was the first year that all four of them made the team and ever since, they’d been inseparable on and off the pitch.

She stared at the black and white, moving picture with a little bit of nostalgia. Her eyes kept landing on Mako, who was smiling and laughing proudly, rubbing his knuckles in Bolin’s head full of dark hair. Mako looked so happy and young in that picture. Danny bit her lip, her heart swelled at his full smile.

_Ugh, stop it!_ She shook her head again, _Focus! Get dressed and make it to the field – stop thinking about Mako!_

She pulled on her practice jersey and pads and made her way outside. Her eyebrows knit together in frustration as she couldn’t shake either the image of Mako smiling or of Mako undressing from her head. She stared desperately at the ground, intent on getting her mind to focus on training. She nearly pummeled Kirsch, who was waiting for her near the edge of the field.

“Woah, woah!” He put out his hands and held Danny’s shoulder’s, interrupting her frustrated train of thought. “You okay there, Lawrence?”

Danny’s eyes took a second to adjust and recalibrate on the man in front of her, holding her back. “Oh, hey Kirsch, sorry I almost ran into you I was kind of distracted.”

“Yeah, I noticed!” Kirsch shrugged and put his hands on his hips. “You uh, you okay?”

“Mhm, sure,” Danny nodded once and smiled half-heartedly, “Sorry, I’m just on my way to practice.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Kirsch grinned and pointed to her broomstick, “Actually, I think we may be practicing together tomorrow, too? Anyways, I don’t want to make you late but I wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure, what’s up?” Danny glanced briefly over his shoulder to make sure that Korra hadn’t started training yet, but relocated her attention to Kirsch’s puppy-dog face.

Kirsch reached into his denim jacket and pulled out a pair of pink-streaked roses tied together with a silk, blood red ribbon, both of which were slightly crumpled from being kept in the crook of his arm for who knows how long.

“I was hoping, well, would you go with me to the Fall Ball?” His ears burned a brighter shade of red than either of the flowers or the ribbon, and his leg bounced furiously.

Danny tried not to show it, but she was honestly surprised. “Oh...” Was all she could muster. Her brain couldn’t process what was happening fast enough and Kirsch began to sweat.

“Oh, um,” Danny smiled, embarrassed, “Er, yeah, sure Kirsch. That sounds fun.” She took the roses graciously and watched his expression change from pure horror to ecstatic relief in a matter of seconds. The red drained out of his face and he clapped his hands excitedly.

“Awesome! I mean, okay, cool,” He bobbed his head and waved his hands about frantically, “Yeah, okay, cool, yeah. Alright, well, I’ll meet you at like, seven then?” Danny nodded and waved to him as she resumed making her way towards the rest of the team. He stayed there and smiled for a few seconds before bolting away, probably towards the Hufflepuff common room to go tell his bros.

Danny looked at the roses more closely. _Kirsch,_ she thought, _Hmm. Yeah, why not? Maybe it’ll get my mind off of Mako, anyway._

She tucked the roses gently away in the side pocket of her bag. Korra raised an eyebrow at them but Danny simply shrugged. “They’re from Kirsch,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“Oh!” Korra seemed as surprised as Danny had felt when Kirsch asked. “I didn’t know he was into you.”

“I didn’t either,” Danny chortled, “But hey, I think it’ll be fun to go to the Ball with him. He is pretty cute, now that I think about it.”

Mako showed up behind her. “Who is?” Danny jerked up and her face flushed. He was holding a box of chocolates. Peanut-butter-filled truffles: Danny’s favorite.

“Um, uhhh,” Danny couldn’t think straight, Mako was looking right into her eyes and he looked so good in his uniform and Danny had seen him in his uniform before but damn, she’d never _seen_ him and holy shit it’s hot out isn’t it? Oh wait no it’s overcast and in the middle of October…

“Kirsch asked her to the Fall Ball,” Korra said, nonchalantly, “Danny was just saying that she thinks he’s cute, but I’m not so sure I agree.” She picked up her broomstick and yelled at everyone to gather in the center of the pitch – without broomsticks – for some warm-up exercises. Several groans came from the first and seventh years.

Mako’s face fell. Danny still couldn’t figure out anything to say. It was like all words evaded her tongue and she couldn’t peel her eyes away from his suddenly saddened expression.

“Kirsch, huh?” He grunted, before stalking past her. He ran up to Korra and tugged on her shoulder. Danny couldn’t see what they exchanged, but she saw Mako say something and offer Korra the chocolates, then she saw Korra nod, smile and wrap her arms around Mako in a massive hug that probably could be damaging to his ribcage. They joined the group together, with Korra jabbering rapidly about something and Mako sulking next to her. Korra then said something happily to the group, which made them all cheer and run to get their broomsticks.

Danny had to remind herself that she should be with the rest of the team, and ran to join them. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Mako again, though. She wanted to, but she was scared that if she started to look at him, she wouldn’t be able to stop.

_Kirsch,_ she told herself, over and over again during the entirety of practice, _Kirsch. Think of Kirsch._ He did remind her strongly of puppies. _Who doesn’t love puppies? Right?_

_*************_

Korra had devoured most of the box of peanut butter truffles in under ten minutes. Asami kind of wanted to ask to have one, but decided she enjoyed watching Korra stuff her face awkwardly even more. Korra always ate enough food to feed four small countries after practices and games. In public places, some people would look on with disgust. They’d pull out recorders or small gadgets with cameras on them and point and gawk in awe of the piles and piles of food Korra could demolish. Asami often paid, considering Korra’s low income and Asami’s seemingly endless supply of money, and the bills Asami would get – even from fast food restaurants with relatively cheap prices – almost always exceeded fifty galleons, if they were dining with Mako and Bolin. Or, an exorbitant amount of pounds, in British muggle currency.

Korra also had very few acceptable table manners. She often tucked a napkin into the collar of her shirt, she belched loudly a few minutes after gorging herself, and she talked with her mouth full. Asami had to admit, she was picking up a few of Korra’s bad habits. She caught herself slouching at her father’s dinner table, and once, she even slurped her noodles, turning every head in the room in her direction.

For now, however, she let herself relax. Although she regularly teased Korra for her lack of politeness at mealtimes, she never bothered her when it was just the two of them, alone. Or, at least, with LaFontaine sitting quietly next to them.

Asami and LaFontaine had gotten caught up in planning how Asami would ask Korra to the dance during their Potions lab, and were now trying to redo the assignment. Korra just happened to be walking back from practice and stumbled in when she saw the two working around a cauldron that contained something that was probably extremely toxic.

From the moment Korra walked in, Asami’s demeanor changed. LaFontaine guessed immediately that this dark-skinned, muscular, chocolate haired beauty was Korra by the way Asami fidgeted and played with her luxuriously long, raven-colored hair. LaF hadn’t been saying much since Korra entered, but it was obvious that they were anxious that Asami make a move.

Asami ignored LaF’s hinting looks and nudges, but was equally as anxious. Korra eventually got to her last truffle and grunted. “You know, as much as I love these little things, I think they’re just too rich for me.”

Asami looked up from her worksheet and raised an eyebrow. “You’ve realized this now? After eating about twenty of them?”

“Well, I downed the first couple in a handful so I didn’t taste too much other than chocolate, but by the time I got to my twentieth I realized that the ratio of chocolate to peanut butter just isn’t quite right for me,” Her lips smacked loudly, “It’s like, the peanut butter is just too sticky.” She offered the nearly empty box to Asami. “Want the last piece?”

Asami readjusted her position on her stool and leaned towards Korra across the lab counter. She opened her mouth and Korra placed the last truffle in between her teeth. LaFontaine’s mouth dropped and they began packing their things.

“Well, I better be going,” LaF said, loudly and clearly, “I think we’ve figured out this lab as much as we need to, right Asami? Anyway, it was nice to meet you Korra, I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again.” They darted out of the room with their bag still in their hands. They turned and winked over their shoulder at Asami, whose heartbeat had accelerated by at least two thousand kilometers per second.

Korra frowned. “Did I scare her off?”

Asami swallowed the remnants of the surprisingly sticky truffle and shook her head. “No, they just had some other place to be.”

“They?”

“Yeah, they prefer not to use gender-specific pronouns.”

“Oh. I don’t really get that but whatever makes her – them, whatever makes them happy. So I didn’t scare them, then?”

“Nope. Although, you did scare me a little with how fast you ate those truffles.” Asami slyly turned to the page in her notebook where she and LaF had written out exactly what Asami would say when she asked Korra to the dance. She expertly slid her ink bottle and quill in front of her notebook so that Korra wouldn’t be able to see the writing on her page.

“Hey, you helped,” Korra winked and leaned onto her forearms, “I couldn’t have finished that box without you.”

“Actually, I don’t believe that,” Asami laughed nervously, trying to read LaF’s scribbly handwriting.

“You’re probably right. That’s not a good thing, though. Mako says I should try to eat healthier for the sake of the team, and I kind of agree,” Korra sighed.

“Oh, don’t believe a w-word that boy says,” Asami stuttered, disbelieving how nervous she’d become, “H-he’s a dramatic s-son of a gun, that one.”

“Oh?” Korra raised smirked, “Is this your old relationship you’re referring to?”

“Well, it applies,” Asami shrugged, sweat forming under her arms, “But he is a great guy, I hope you’re not getting the impression that I dislike him because we didn’t work out together.”

“Pfft nope, I was just fishing for juicy details, honestly” Korra waved a hand in front of her face, “I know you two’ve become just as good of friends as ever. Which I’m glad for. I’m glad you two are my friends. Except, I want to talk about that, actually.”

Asami gulped. “You…you do? I wanted to talk about something, too.”

“Oh, okay then you go first.”

“No, you go first, please. I’m interested in what you have to say.”

“…alright, well it’s about the dance coming up.”

Asami froze. “Y-yes?” Her mouth ran dry. This couldn’t be happening. Was Opal right? Did Korra feel the same way?

Korra continued. “Well, I kind of…well I didn’t really think about going but Mako asked me to go with him at practice today and I said yes.”

Something shattered in Asami’s throat and fell into the pit of her stomach. She felt like she was going to be sick. “Oh, really?” She forced a smile and put her hands on Korras. Nope, nope she retracted her hands. Too much physical contact.

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t know. Mako’s cool, I guess. But I was wondering, would that be weird? Like, since you and him dated a while back?”

Asami swallowed hard and shook her head violently, in attempt to call back the tears that stung the back of her eyes. “No! Nope. Not at all. Go for it! Have fun.”

“Are you sure? You seem kind of off about it.”

“Of course not! Why would I be? You’re my friends, I’m h...happy for you!” Asami blinked back the moisture from threatening and swept up the pieces of her broken heart. _Asami, you idiot. She’s straight and you knew that from the beginning._

Korra sighed and smiled again. “Good, I’m relieved. I didn’t ever think of Mako that way, but I guess I could give it a shot. Or, maybe we’ll just go to the dance as friends and it’ll be fun that way, too.” She hopped off the stool and walked over to Asami’s side of the counter.

“What’d you want to talk about?” Korra said, coming over and leaning against the cold, dark marble of the countertop.

“Oh, um, nothing,” Asami swallowed again and cleared her throat, “Nothing. I forgot.”

“Oh, okay,” Korra shrugged, “Well, let me know if you remember, but in the meantime, I have another question.”

The wreckage of Asami’s heart braced for another blow. “Yes?”

“Well, Laura is basically dating this Carmilla chick from Slytherin –“ Asami turned and faced her, intrigued – “And I like Carmilla and all, but she told me something kinda scary and I don’t know what to think about it.”

“Go on,” Asami urged, desperate for a distraction. Maybe Korra was straight, but the fact that Laura was in a lesbian relationship seemed to brighten Asami’s hopes that Korra would at least accept Asami if she ever came out.

“Carmilla said that she thinks I’m a doppleganger,” Korra released a large breath, “I’m not entirely sure what that means other than that I’m apparently an identical, like, reincarnation of some other people who lived before me. Like, we could be clones. Carmilla showed me a picture of one of them, Kyoshi, in an old textbook, and it was kind of creepy how similar we looked. Except Kyoshi had a lot of warts, because she was a hag. Not a ‘hag’ like ‘ew she’s a creepy old lady’, but a ‘hag’ like, ‘ew she’s legitimately a creepy old lady who eats children’, which is worse. Which is why I’m scared, because I don’t want to have hag blood in my veins. Hags are evil, human-eating beings of the dark. I want to play Quidditch and raise my own kids, not eat them.”

Asami blinked and tried to go over all of the words that Korra had just spewed at her. Doppleganger? Kyoshi? Hag? Clones?

“That is kind of freaky,” Asami whispered, emotionally drained.

“Yeah. What I was wondering was, could you and your friend LaF run some tests on my blood and figure out what is wrong with me?”

“Oh, Korra, nothing’s wrong with you,” Asami breathed sadly, “But sure, we could do some things. LaF’s better at that kind of stuff than I am, though. You’ll have to talk to them.” Asami had to leave. She had to get out of sight of those gorgeous, electric-blue eyes.

Korra nodded. “Okay, cool When can I meet them?”

“I don’t know, maybe next Potions class. They’re in Slytherin, too, so maybe you can ask Carmilla or something. Listen, I’ve got to run,” Asami shoved her things into her bag hastily, “I’m gonna be busy for a while too, so, see you around.”

She jumped off her stool and strode out the door, not looking back. She had to find somewhere to cry for a really long time, and possibly work on something mechanical. She planned on spending a lot of time with the knick knacks in her dorm room, and maybe even in the Mechanics workshop. Whatever she did, she had to spend less time around Korra.


	12. Green and Silver and Red and Gold are Christmas Colors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Hollstein kisses. Ugh those two. They are just so easy to write crappy fluff about.  
> *LaF/Asami discuss Korra's blood?  
> *The Gryffindor Quidditch gang have drama  
> *Hollstein ~more than kisses~ wink wink (implied)

Laura was sitting in the top of the Gryffindor bleachers, more than ready for this match to begin. She had her water bottle, her backup water bottle, her camera, her flag, some trail mix, a pair of binoculars, and a small foghorn. Carmilla said it sounded more like a dying seagull than a horn, but Laura simply shrugged and tossed it into her bag. 

This was only a practice – she thought she remembered Korra calling it a ‘scrimmage’, whatever that means – but Laura had made a big deal out of it regardless. The only other spectators were a few Mako and Kirsch fan girls in the guests’ bleachers across from them. Laura thought they were a little pathetic, with their signs and fat heads, but they were also super cute little second years for the most part, so she guessed it was okay.

Carmilla sat with her arm wrapped around Laura, cuddling against the late October chill. It wasn’t supposed to rain, but the sun was hiding behind a sea of grey clouds and there was a light breeze that made their noses red. Being so high up in the bleachers didn’t help.

Laura’s teeth chattered and she hugged herself tightly. “Out of all the things to forget, how could I forget a _blanket?!”_ Carmilla chuckled and pulled her closer to her. Laura may have been freezing, but Carmilla felt quite cozy. She unwrapped her scarf and tied it around Laura’s neck.

“You know these are Slytherin’s colors?” Laura took her head off of Carmilla’s shoulder and looked at her, playfully, “Green and silver don’t exactly mesh well with red and gold.”

“Yes, they do silly,” Carmilla raised an eyebrow, “Aren’t all of those exactly Christmas colors?”

Laura’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Oh! I’m so stupid of course they are!” She huddled up closer to Carmilla, who wrapped both arms around her. “How could I forget?”

“Your brain is probably frozen because you forgot a blanket.”

“I was going to thank you for the scarf but now I’m not going to.”

“Fine by me, you can keep it. I never did like the feeling of something on my neck, anyways.”

Laura looked back up at her with a devilish grin. “Does that mean you’re ticklish there?”

The color drained from Carmilla’s already extremely pale face. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Laura squealed and flung her fingers towards Carmilla’s neck. Carmilla responded immediately, fighting back by tickling Laura’s sides. The two wrestled in a fit of giggles until Laura’s face felt like it was going to crack. Somehow, they ended up laying on top of each other on the cold metal of the bleachers. Laura’s cheeks burned from laughing so hard but her laughter died as she came to focus on Carmilla’s smiling face in front of hers. Their faces were only a few inches apart, so that their noses almost bumped into each other. Carmilla was perched above Laura, her pale hands placed just slightly to the sides of Laura’s ears. Their smiles slowly faded as their attention was drawn to each other’s lips. Carmilla picked up a hand and moved a few strands of honey hair out of Laura’s face. Laura’s heart stopped as Carmilla gently tucked the hair behind her ears.

A whistle from the middle of the pitch snapped both of them out of their trance. Carmilla sat up with a huff. Laura pouted slightly and lurched forward.

The match had started; the teams were only scrimmaging, apparently, but it didn’t appear to be light-hearted. Players from both teams raced in and out of the flags, yelling to and at each other. Mako seemed desperate to score against Hufflepuff’s keeper, Kirsch. There was an obvious tension that filled the arena.

Laura perked up when she saw Korra look over and wave. Laura waved back wildly and swung her legs back and forth. “I love Quidditch,” she said, “I don’t get a lot of the positions other than the Seeker, like Korra is, but it’s still fun to watch.”

Carmilla shrugged and leaned against the seats behind her. “I guess it’s interesting. My favorite part is when someone gets bludgeoned by those crazy flying balls.”

Laura gasped and hit her in the arm. “What if that someone was Korra? Or Bolin?? Or Me?”

“It wouldn’t hit you, cupcake. And honestly, I’d be more worried for the bludger’s sake if it tried to go up against Korra or Bolin. Either of those maniacs could make a polar bear run for its life.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Laura waved at Danny, “But I still hope they don’t have to deal with one, anyways.”

They sat for a while in silence, enjoying the tumult taking place on the field. Carmilla enjoyed herself much more than she thought she would. Laura made the most adorable noises when she watched the game. Every once in a while, Laura would pop out a water bottle or bag of trail mix and the faces she made while trying to both eat and watch the game were about as dorky as Carmilla had ever seen her.

Suddenly, a loud, rolling boom of thunder crashed behind them. A few drops of rain plopped onto the metal. The two girls looked at each other with wide eyes.

“We should probably get out of here,” Carmilla smirked, “I don’t mind getting wet, but we’re a little too high up to get caught in a lightning storm, for my tastes.”

Laura blinked and started to pack all of her stuff into her bag.

Another boom rattled the stairs inside the bleachers as they descended. Carmilla grabbed her hand and Laura giggled at the excitement of it all.

By the time they made it to the bottom of the stair well, the rain was coming down hard. Buckets and buckets of water poured from the sky at a diagonal angle. They stood in the shelter of the pillar for a few seconds, in awe of the gigantic puddles already forming on the ground in front of them. There was quite a distance between their small, wooden dry haven and the covered bridge leading to the rest of the school.

Laura looked at Carmilla and grinned. “What were you saying about getting wet?”

Carmilla raised an eyebrow and squeezed Laura’s hand before taking off into the storm. Laura shrieked and jogged after her, being tugged along by their clasped hands. She caught up to Carmilla, who was already soaked through. They ran for several more yards, dodging the largest puddles only to land in smaller ones. Carmilla glanced over her shoulder to look at Laura, who was smiling giddily and squinting against the onslaught of water pouring on top of her, and tripped, bringing the both of them down into a slippery, muddy mess.

Carmilla managed to pull herself under Laura during the fall, trying to cushion Laura’s landing. They rolled for a few feet before sliding to a stop in a massive puddle of mud. Laura looked down at Carmilla’s filthy face with that adorable smile. “Are you okay?”

Carmilla wiped the mud out of Laura’s own covered face and smiled, chuckling. “Never been better, cupcake.” Laura beamed and ran her freezing fingers down the side of Carmilla’s face, tilting it upwards. She lowered her lips onto Carmilla’s, oblivious to the waves of rain pelting her. Carmilla inhaled deeply and put her hands on Laura’s hips, which were drenched with mud, grass and rain. Carmilla pulled her in, clinging to her wet skin. A flame erupted into life somewhere deep within her bosom and her heart thawed as Laura kissed her softly, slowly. Her body melted into the tiny girl who reminded her of fluffy ducklings and yellow flowers and shooting stars. Her hands clutched at her, needed her to be close. She reciprocated the kiss fervently, desperate to return the feeling of need and want.

Laura smiled through the kiss, gradually losing her breath but not caring about breathing. She only cared about the beautiful girl underneath her, how _good_ she felt; to hold her hand, to touch her, to make her laugh, to laugh with her, to kiss her. Carmilla tasted like mud and rain and grass and stars and laughter and _kisses._ Laura didn’t know it was possible for someone to taste like kisses, but it was, because that’s what Carmilla tasted like.

Laura pulled away slowly, tentatively, unwillingly. She would have kept that up for hours, were it not for the thousands of gallons of water being constantly dumped on them. She looked at Carmilla with squinted – but happy – eyes. Carmilla looked back and moved some of the hair plastered to Laura’s face out of the way so she could kiss her again.

“As much as I hate to be the one to break this up,” Laura chattered, remembering how cold she actually was, “I can’t feel my toes. Or my lips, anymore, which I’d like to, so I could kiss you again and feel it.”

Carmilla laughed before kissing her nose and pulling herself up. “Say no more, cupcake,” She hauled Laura and her bag onto her back, “Let’s get you some dry clothes and hot chocolate.”

Laura wrapped her arms around Carmilla’s neck. She bounced against Carmilla’s – surprisingly strong – back as they raced towards the school, happily soaked to the bone. Laura figured it’d take several loads of bleach to get all the mud out of her clothes, but she didn’t mind. All she could think about now was how much she wanted to go back to kissing the beautiful, mysterious, dark-haired girl she was clinging to now.

_**********************************_

The microscope flickered on and LaFontaine squinted into the eyehole. They turned several knobs and hummed something quietly to themselves. They loved this part of the job description. Someday, they hoped to get paid to do research like this.

Asami sat nearby, with her chin in her hands. She was focusing on forgetting Korra, again. And failing at doing so, as always. It seemed like the more she wanted to stop thinking about Korra, the more that Korra dominated her thoughts. The fact that she and LaF were probing Korra’s blood didn’t help to keep Korra out of her mind, either.

LaF grunted, snapping Asami out of her thoughts. “What is it? Did you find something abnormal?”

LaF’s forehead creased above their eyebrows. “I’m…I’m not sure, actually. Here, take a look.”

Asami slid into the viewing seat. She refocused the lens a few times, attempting to center the frame around a single blood cell. When she finally got the angle she wanted, she frowned. _That’s not what a red blood cell normally looks like,_ she thought, confused.

“Are you sure we have the right sample?” She asked, “These cells don’t look…right.”

LaF nodded. “Yeah, this is Korra’s blood. I agree that they look strange but I don’t think they’re unhealthy at all. They just look weird.”

Asami pulled away from the microscope and walked over to the bookshelf in the corner of the room. They were in a small study room just across the library. They’d reserved the room in advance because it had a relatively new microscope and a large supply of anatomical, chemical, and textbooks.

“Are you sure you don’t want to tell Korra about this?” LaF looked worried, “I mean, we don’t exactly know anything other than the fact that Korra’s blood has some rare magical properties but we should at least let her know that we’re trying.”

“Nah,” Asami sighed, “If you wanna tell her, go for it. I’m off to the Mechanic’s workshop.” Asami packed her bag and made her way out the door.

“Okay then I’m just going to take this sample and our research to the Slytherin common room, if you don’t mind!” LaF called after her. They worried about her. She’d told them about what Korra said about going to the ball with Mako, and that she thought Korra was 100% straight and that she was a fool for even thinking about asking Korra in the first place. She hadn’t been the same since.

LaFontaine sighed and turned off the microscope. They knew they had to help Asami get over this whole situation somehow, but they also knew how emotionally draining it was on her. They tucked all of their vials and notes back into their backpack and signed out of the room.

It was raining pretty heavily outside, and dark, too. LaF guessed that it was probably getting close to dinnertime. They didn’t expect Carmilla to be back from her date with Laura yet, and decided to make their way towards the kitchens instead of the Slytherin common room. They didn’t like being around Kuvira or some of her little clan of admirers without Carmilla there to hide behind.

Besides, the kitchens had food. They liked food. Perry was probably there, too, befriending more of the house elves. LaFontaine’s face lit up at the thought of Perry helping some tiny house elf stir a massive pot of cider or bake a loaf of bread. Maybe Perry would have an idea of how to help Asami, anyways.

_****************************************_

“God _damnit!”_ Mako cursed as Kirsch blocked yet another one of his attacks. Either Kirsch was playing extremely well today, or Mako was playing extremely awfully. _Or both,_ Mako scowled.

He pulled his broomstick to a halt in midair and checked the score. Neither Seeker had caught the snitch yet, but Gryffindor was falling dreadfully behind. Fat drops of rain landed on his face and squinted against the rain. He looked over at Danny, who wasn’t necessarily playing terribly, but definitely seemed distracted.

Kirsch, on the other hand, was on fire. He was directing traffic all throughout the pitch, and hardly ever let a Quaffle through a hoop. He dashed about on his broomstick, completely in control. Even during the most intense waves of rainfall, Kirsch’s bright yellow uniform could be seen jolting to and fro, blocking shots and calling out to teammates.

Mako glared at him. He kicked forward, anxious to find the Quaffle and get another shot on Hufflepuff’s stud of a Keeper.

“Mako, look out!” Bolin yelled below him. Mako heard a faint buzzing noise heading towards him and darted out of the way of a nastily hit bludger. It whizzed past him, whistling in his ear.

Bolin flew up to meet him. “Hey, you okay bro? You seem kind of out of it. That bludger nearly took you out!”

“It wouldn’t have if you’ve been doing your job and hitting them away from your teammates!” Mako snapped.

“I lost track of it for a second! You’re welcome for warning you!” Bolin fought back, before speeding off.

Mako grumbled. He knew Bolin was doing his job well enough and he shouldn’t have yelled at him. He was just really grumpy.

_Stupid Kirsch,_ he looked back at the Keeper, _What does Danny even see in him? I mean, sure, they’re both Keepers, and they both love dogs, and they’re about the same height, and he’s incredibly built…_

Mako frowned. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Kirsch was actually a good guy, and an even better match for Danny. He’d even sometimes back off on the bets that he’d won if he knew that Danny was really upset about it. Mako would never do that.

_Ugh, I’m such a jerk,_ Mako’s mood shifted, _Why’d I think she’d ever go for me?_

The whistle blew. Korra had caught the snitch and Gryffindor had won, albeit by only a couple of points.

Mako descended slowly, internally beating himself up for a lot of things. For not asking Danny out sooner, for being arrogant enough to think Danny would go out with him anyways, for being too much of a coward for just telling her how he felt, for not scoring on Kirsch, for spacing out in the middle of a scrimmage, for yelling at Bolin, for asking Korra to the ball instead, and so on.

He saw Danny heading towards Kirsch in the bottom of his vision and got angry again. He watched Danny go over to Kirsch and congratulate him, high five him, smile at him. He was being ridiculous, he knew that, but he couldn’t stop himself from getting incredibly jealous.

When he finally touched down on the wet grass, he stormed over to his bag and started to take off his soaking uniform. Korra jogged over to him and smiled.

“Hey,” Her smile spread across her face and even illuminated her cheeks with a faint pink. Her short hair was matted from the rain, and her jersey was soaked all the way through.

“Hi.” Mako spat, dispassionately.

Korra’s smile faded a little. “So, uh, that was fun?”

Mako rolled his eyes. “Maybe for you,” he responded curtly. He knelt in the mud and started untying the laces on his shin pads.

“Did you not have fun? You love scrimmaging. I thought this would be a nice break from all of our hard training recently,” Korra said, her smile now almost completely gone.

“Can we not talk about it?” Mako untied his shoulder pads and threw them into his bag.

“Uh, sure, okay,” Korra cocked her head, “Would you rather talk about the Ball? I’m excited for it! Should we plan on matching our colors or just winging it and surprising each ot – “

“I don’t want to talk about that either,” Mako took a deep breath and gritted his teeth.

“Ooookay,” Korra folded her arms, with the snitch still fluttering in one hand, “Then what about, Danny and Kirsch sure look cute over there? I didn’t know they were into each other but I guess they’re cute togeth – “

“How about we just don’t talk about anything? Nothing. No talking.” Mako stood up and slung his bag over his shoulder.

Korra looked hurt. Her arms tensed defensively. “Damn, what’s up your ass?” Mako grunted and turned away from her. “I’m sorry if my trying to talk to you is annoying you but you literally haven’t said anything to me since you asked me to the Fall Ball last practice and I thought, I don’t know, that since you askedmeto the dance you’d wantto hang out with me or talk to me or something but obviously I thought wrong!” Mako stopped a few feet away from her and turned back around to face her.

“Look, I still want to go to the dance with you, but can we just go as friends and leave it at that?” His fists were clenched and he was breathing heavily.

Korra raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, fine, whatever. Obviously you just want to be left alone so go be alone.”

He waved sarcastically and stalked off with his hands deep in his pockets.

Korra cocked her hip to the side and chewed on the inside of her cheek. So, Mako just asked her as a _friend_ to the dance. Was that even a thing that people did?

_Ughhhh!!_ Korra kicked her bag, _This whole Mako thing was going to be the perfect way to get those girl-on-girl dreams out of my head!_

She shuffled over to the Quidditch chest and locked the Snitch back into its spot. Danny came up behind her and bumped into her shoulder.

“What was up with Mako? He didn’t score once and he just kind of stormed off, normally he loves scrimmages,” Danny glanced down at the box of peanut butter truffles sticking out of Korra’s bag and sort of wanted to ask for one, but decided against it.

“That’s what I said!” Korra threw her hands up, “I don’t know what’s wrong with that boy, I swear his mood swings are crazier than Laura’s.”

Danny laughed, maybe a little harder than she anticipated. “I know! I’m pretty sure he was wacked enough even to flirt with _me_ the other day! But he likes you, right? Because he asked you to the Ball?”

Korra looked up at her giant friend. “No, he said he wants to just go as friends. But tell me about this flirting incident?”

“I don’t even know if it really was flirting,” Danny bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling or blushing, “He was all over the place. One minute he’s taking off his shirt and the next he’s angry at me and walks away. It was weird.”

“Taking off his shirt?” Korra gawked, “I mean, if we didn’t see Mako take off his shirt all the time, I would definitely consider that flirting!”

“Right? I have no idea. Good luck with him at the Ball.”

“Thanks, I may need it. I’ll just keep feeding him bananas to ward off the cramps.”

They both laughed and headed to the showers. They were both drenched from the intense storm. Their shoes sank slightly into the deep puddles of mud that had already formed. The rain had died down and was gently trickling onto the two friends. The wheels in either of their heads were turning, trying to decipher the events of the week.

_*****************_

“If you keep shivering I’m going to have to take you to the hospital wing,” Carmilla carried Laura to the Slytherin common room, “Are you sure you don’t want to call it a night? You could head back to your dorm, change into some of your flannel pajamas, throw on your fluffy duckling slippers…”

“B-but that would all require b-being away f-f-from you!” Laura insisted through chattering teeth, “Also, I think I may have frozen onto your back permanently, and I’m not sure how to unlock my hands from around your neck.”

“If that didn’t sound so pitiful I would almost think that sounded like you were flirting with me,” Carmilla chuckled. She turned the corner and approached the Slytherin common room.

“M-maybe I am f-flirting with you?” Laura sneezed, “Wait, I j-just realized what y-you're...I c-can’t go with you into the Slytherin c-common room! That would b-b-be blasphemous!”

“When they see you permanently frozen to my back, I doubt anyone will bother us, cupcake. And even if they try to make a fuss of it, I have a way with…coercion,” Carmilla chose her words carefully. “Besides, we’re only taking you in for a little, so we can get you a shower, dry you off, and slip you into something with fewer icicles and clods of mud.”

“Th-that isn’t v-very specific,” Laura grinned into Carmilla’s hair, “What d-did you hav-ve in mind?”

Carmilla smirked. “Let’s just say, I believe you’ve been wearing a coat for far too long.”

Laura hugged Carmilla tighter and giggled. “If I wasn’t so c-c-cold I would be d-down to wear s-something sm-smaller than a c-c-coat.”

“Then let’s warm you up,” Carmilla bit her lower lip. She knew she and Laura were being absolutely disgusting and sappy, but she didn’t really care. She was enjoying herself too much to care.

Laura continued to shiver relentlessly behind her. Her teeth rattled and her breath puffed past Carmilla’s ear. She rested her chin on Carmilla’s shoulder.

“You’re quite the snuggler when you’re freezing cold, cutie,” Carmilla approached the Slytherin common room entrance, “I’m afraid we’re here. Are you sure you’re okay with coming inside?”

Laura lifted her head up tentatively. “I’m, um…what if…” Carmilla bent her knees and slowly lowered Laura to the floor, “I’m just…what if we…h-hide m-m-me?”

Carmilla kissed Laura’s fingers and gently untangled them from in front of her face. “How do you propose we do that, cupcake? Are you really that nervous about it?”

“Well, w-we are in a d-dungeon, f-full of Sl-Slytherins who will p-probably hate me, and, and…” Laura scrambled off of Carmilla and hugged herself tightly.

“Cupcake. No one in their right mind could hate you,” Carmilla stood up and swiveled on her heel to face the trembling girl, “But if you’re really so worried, I can just run in and grab you a towel and a sweatshirt?”

Laura thought for a second before shaking her head. “How about y-you poke your h-head in and we m-make a d-d-dash for it.”

Carmilla tucked a wet strand of hair behind Laura’s ear and whispered a password to the grim-looking dungeon wall. Instantly, the bricks began to slide and shift around each other, until they formed an open archway. Carmilla skipped a few feet inside, looked around, and jogged back with a small grin.

“No one’s in the common room, and it’s just a short dash around a few corners to my bedroom. You in?”

Laura felt giddy, like when she still attended muggle elementary schools before she’d gotten her Hogwarts letter, and the teacher announced recess. She knew she was breaking a couple school rules, but if she was being honest with herself, she kind of enjoyed the excitement. It was thrilling, to break the rules. She looked at Carmilla’s daring grin and something in her stomach knotted. Her vision narrowed as adrenaline pumped to her brain.

Laura nodded sheepishly. In an instant, Carmilla ran behind her, scooped her up in her arms, and ran into the common room. Laura was pleasantly surprised by Carmilla’s speed and strength. It was almost superhuman. They shot through the common room and turned a few corners – stifling laughs and hiding behind a few dimly lit columns along the way – before coming up to a thick, walnut-colored door, decorated with black iron edging and an antique levered handle. Carmilla deftly nudged the handle down with her foot and kicked the door open, revealing a small, grey room with stone walls and a very mature set of drawers with matching desk and bedside table. Carmilla waltzed into the room silently and set Laura down softly onto her pillow-covered bed before lunging behind her and shutting the door.

Laura rubbed her arms desperately, but stared around the room in wonder. “I d-didn’t know you were an interior d-decorator!”

Carmilla shrugged, but she knew the room was cozy. The furniture was all her own, brought in before the year began. This room used to be an empty store room, where some the more crafty or trouble-making Slytherin crowd would break in and light up all sorts of magical drugs and smoking devices. Carmilla had a very specific color scheme; although she was a Slytherin, she had always been particular to red and black. The colors just seemed to suit her. Over the years, she’d collected a wide assortment of trinkets and housewarming decorations that all seemed to mesh well, considering she kept very strictly to her two – sometimes three, depending on how well it fit – color palette. 

There was a large amount of deep, bright brown wood in the room. All of the wood seemed well polished but was also well worn. The headboard of the bed was impressively carved, with flourishes and swirling embellishments intertwining and extruding in very precisely designated locations. All of the legs on the furniture bent and curved with just enough flare to present maturity, but not too much so as to be tacky.

Though they were in a dungeon and the room was small and relatively dark, the more Laura looked around the more she found herself cozy and content. The rounded stones in the walls were relaxing and somehow, Laura found herself feeling warmer merely from the cozy ambiance. 

Another help against the dreariness of a dungeon room was the vivid red. Carmilla had expertly dotted the place with a few spots of a thick, lustful garnet; an exotic rug ran underneath the bed and spilled out into the middle of the room, a small, expensively-framed painting of a red rose hung quietly along the wall across from her desk, and a handful of the many throw pillows on the bed had currant accents or faded, rosy undertones.

While Carmilla dug through her drawers for a towel and something for Laura to wear, Laura took the opportunity to run her fingers over the variety of textures on the bed and pillows. There were so many pillows! Two large square ones, one a red-and-gold paisley and the other a graphite burlap; a handful of assorted, half-sized rectangular ones, varying shades of black and grey; one circular pillow, a bright, crimson silk that gathered underneath a button in the center. Laura thawing fingers scoped out one pillow in particular: a white one, or rather, a warm cream. It was _fuzzy_ , covered in wool and fraying along the edges. Laura pushed into it with the pink tips of her fingers and gasped. It had feathers in it!

Carmilla tossed a large, green-and-black flannel shirt and a towel onto her lap and sat down next to her, cutting off Laura’s reach to the amazing assortment of pillows. “As entertaining as it is for me to watch you stroke my pillows, I must insist that you dry off and get changed. You’re soaking through my duvet.”

Laura’s teeth weren’t chattering quite so badly anymore, so she could snicker properly at the word ‘duvet’. “Oh, your _duvet!_ Well then, excuse me madame,” Laura picked up the flannel and the towel and tiptoed backwards towards the closet in the far corner of the room. “Pardon me for soiling your ludicrously expensive and puffy bed cover. I’m just going to go _meander_ on over to your _walk-in_ closet in your _private_ room. Do you have any champagne, by the way? I am fabulously parched.”

Carmilla smirked and threw a canvas pillow at her. Laura dodged it and shut herself into Carmilla’s somewhat cramped closet.

Carmilla strode over to the cupboard above her dresser and pulled out a bottle of champagne and two tall, slender glasses. She sat back down onto her bed and poured the alcohol into both glasses with a filthy grin smoldering underneath a placid, porcelain face. She laughed to herself as she heard small grunts coming from the closet and looked down at her outfit. Her own hair and clothes were still relatively damp as well, though she wasn’t necessarily phased by the cold temperature like Laura was.

She placed the glasses next to the lamp on the bedside table and quickly changed into a pair of black leather pants, a black lace bra, and a loose-fitting, low-hanging, somewhat sheer black blouse. She bent over to look into the small mirror on her dresser and wiped away the smeared makeup. When she turned around, she saw Laura staring blankly at her, with completely flushed cheeks, large eyes, and her mouth wide open.

Carmilla smiled devilishly and picked up the glasses of champagne. “Like what you see?”

Laura dropped the wet clothes she was holding. “Uh, buh, uhhh…yuhh…”

“You’re stuttering again, are you still cold?” Carmilla walked over to her slowly and offered her a glass, “I thought this would help get your blood pumping. Drink up,” She winked and turned dramatically, before sitting back onto the bed and kicking one of her legs over the other. She leaned back onto one arm while the other arm gracefully lifted the glass up to her lips.

Laura gulped. What did she do in another life to deserve this? “I…was going to ask for a pair of underwear and…maybe some sweats but…”

Carmilla took another swig of her drink and raised an eyebrow. “But…that would be moving backwards, don’t you think?”

Laura looked down at her just slightly over-sized flannel t-shirt and her shoulders slumped. “How are you this crazy, hot, sexy, I don’t know _goddess,_ and I’m just a tiny dork?”

Carmilla swallowed and laughed. “Cupcake, you’re always going to be a dork. That doesn’t mean you can’t still be sexy.”

Laura looked down and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She shyly swirled the clear liquid around slowly. “Do…do you think I’m sexy?”

Carmilla set her glass back down and took a long step forward so that she could place her hands on Laura’s arms. “I think you’re perfect.”

Laura’s knees went weak. She lost herself in Carmilla’s deep, dark eyes and sensed only traces of pure affection in them.  Her pulse thudded against her chest to the beat of a thousand drums in her stomach. The more she thought about Carmilla, how close she was, the faster the drums pounded.

Carmilla smiled crookedly for a moment, but it was enough to set Laura over the edge. Something in her burst. She crashed her mouth against Carmilla’s in a brief but forceful kiss. Carmilla’s eyes blurred slightly for a moment when they broke apart, but refocused in time to see Laura toss back all of the contents in the glass.

Laura licked her lips and put a hand on Carmlla’s stomach. “I think you’re bluffing.”

Carmilla’s eyes widened as Laura shoved firmly against her stomach, making her fall backwards onto the bed. Laura set down her glass next to Carmilla’s and lifted her legs onto the bed, one by one, straddling Carmilla in the process.

Laura was only wearing the flannel shirt, but she was heating up rapidly. She still had trouble feeling her toes, but she didn’t think it was from the cold as much as it was from anticipation. She was falling for this dark-haired girl beneath her. She was falling fast and hard. Laura’s face shone with excitement and delight. With past girls, it’d taken much longer to get to this point. With Danny, it took almost a whole year. But with Carmilla, it felt completely natural. Laura felt giddy around Carmilla, she felt new and important. Most of all, she felt loved. 

Carmilla watched, pale-faced, as the radiant girl on top of her slowly bent down and lowered her lips onto Carmilla’s. It was so gentle, so soft, Carmilla could barely pinpoint the moment they first touched. Carmilla melted into Laura. The walls around her heart crumbled and she purred into the kiss. She knew she was being stupid. She understood that loving a human was dangerous and ridiculous and temporary. She knew she’s have to tell Laura about herself at some point. But as Laura pressed further and further into Carmilla’s heart, Carmilla couldn’t find herself caring. Laura _was_ perfect, so far as Carmilla understood, and Carmilla was _in love._


	13. Everyone is a Dork

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Carmilla is whipped AF. She and LaF talk about Korra  
> *more Hollstein fluff and Korrasami angst  
> *the Gryffindor gals are all dorks  
> *Korra teaches Laura how to dance! yey

“Who knew the dining hall served breakfast at five o’clock in the morning?” Carmilla bounced into the Slytherin common room, practically singing. 

“Good morning, Miss Not-so-dark-and-brooding-anymore,” LaFontaine teased Carmilla from the couch, “You’re looking awfully chipper. Sleep well?”

Carmilla was holing a brown paper bag and a jug of orange juice. “I slept very well, thank you,” She winked, “And you know why, my good friend? I gave in. I fell for Laura. I’m in love and I don’t care what anybody thinks and now I’m off to put breakfast on the table next to my bed where I’m going to lay back down with her and wait for her to wake up even though that is completely disgusting and cute.”

LaFontaine’s jaw dropped. “Wait, she’s in _here_?!”

“Yes, of course she’s here, why else would I sneak food out of the dining room and into the dungeons? You know I hate orange juice.”

“But, this is Slytherin’s dungeon,” LaFontaine raised their eyebrows and whispered, “And she’s from Gryffindor. She could be expelled! You _both_ could be!”

“Expelled for what, Kitty?” Will strode in, with a small smirk on his narrow face. “You haven’t been up to any mischief, have you sister? It’s only been a few weeks, and you’ve already managed to get expelled?”

Carmilla scowled in his direction. “Don’t be a prick, William. Just because I’ve been out having fun while you’ve been following that Kuvira girl like a puppy on a leash, doesn’t give you the right to be snide.”

Will scoffed. “The Mistress of the Snark is calling me snide? I must be growing up. And, for the record, I’ve been having plenty of fun myself, thank you very much.” He yawned and meandered over to the entrance to the common room. “Kuvira and I have kept each other _quite_ entertained. She is attending the Ball with me, which is at least something Mother will approve of.” He stalked out the door, ignoring the gesture that Carmilla flashed him.

LaFontaine raised an eyebrow. “I’m inclined to be courteous to your brother purely for the sake of your relation to him, but the fact that he’s a Class A asshole and is dating Kuvira is unsettling.”

Carmilla waved her hand. “Please, don’t give him the benefit of the doubt for my sake. He can be a dick, and Kuvira brings it out of him, there’s no getting around that. Oh, and don’t tell anyone about my little…scandal. I could care less about getting kicked out of this school, but for Laura’s sake, I want to keep rumors quelled. You know?”

LaFontaine shook their head and covered their mouth with a hand, giggling slightly at Carmilla’s pure infatuation. Carmilla shrugged and picked off a piece of muffin from inside the brown bag she was holding.

“Obviously I won’t tell anyone, but before you take off I was hoping you’d answer a few questions for me?”

Carmilla sighed and joined LaFontaine on the couch. “Well go on then, I want to be back before she wakes up.”

“First of all, I should congratulate you on your official commitment to Laura. Even though it’s a little sketchy that you snuck her in and slept with her after your first kiss.” They accepted the punch from Carmilla in their arm and continued. “Second, I did some research on your friend Korra the other day. Asami and I took some blood samples and ran a few tests and, well, we’re a little confused at the results.”

Carmilla frowned. “Why?”

“Well, they didn’t look exactly,” LaFontaine bobbed their head a few times, “…human, per se.”

“Korra isn’t human?”

“We don’t know. There were a few bodies within the cell that aren’t normally seen alongside the mitochondria and, though the cell walls had the same basic shape as regular mammal’s blood cells, they often…shifted.”

Carmilla shook her head. “Try again, I’m not following.”

“Basically, Korra’s blood seemed supernatural.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. That’s why I wanted to come to you –“ Carmilla twiddled her fingers uncomfortably “—because we know you were the first one to mention something about a hag?”

Carmilla released a heavy breath. “Oh, yes. Kyoshi. I first recognized Korra because she looked identical to Kyoshi, minus a few warts - you know, from what I've, er, read..." Carmilla quickly added.

LaFontaine nodded. “Yeah so, we compared Korra’s blood to other supernatural beings and nothing really matched. She isn’t a vampire, nor a werewolf, nor a variety of other crazy magical creatures, except for the hag.”

“Wait, Korra can’t be a hag. We would’ve known that already. Hags are evil, creepy old witches who live off of human flesh, and so far as I’ve see, Korra maintains her own health solely on carbs and sugar.”

“Yes, exactly. Her blood sample was the _closest_ match to hags, but not nearly as, erm, _green,_ ” LaFontaine shivered, “So, I was wondering what else you knew about Kyoshi? Or Korra, for that matter. Normally, Asami would talk about Korra but lately she’s been kind of quiet about her.”

“All I know is that Kyoshi was a hag and Korra is probably her doppleganger,” Carmilla shrugged, “Did you compare Korra’s blood to that of a doppleganger?”

LaFontaine shook her head, defeated. “No, but in order to do that legitimately, we’d need the blood of another doppleganger in _Korra’s_ bloodline, not just any other line of reincarnated beings.”

Carmilla paused. “Beings? Dopplegangers are beings?”

“Yes, I do believe they are categorized as a subspecies of ‘beings’.”

“So, what if Korra is both a doppleganger _and_ another type of being? If that were the case, then she could have similar – and yet, non-identical – characteristics of both dopplegangers and another species of supernatural being?”

LaFontaine rested their head on their fist. “Hmm, it’s possible. However, I’m worried that that could potentially mean that Korra’s second supernatural ingredient is _hag,_ which isn’t exactly a first-choice alter ego.”

Carmilla sighed and stood back up. “I certainly hope you’re wrong, for Korra’s sake. Let’s do some more research and reconvene when we both have more information.”

“Deal!” LaFontaine nodded firmly, “But, before you go, I have one more question,” Carmilla turned and faced them, getting a little anxious about Laura waking up, “It’s about Korra again, only, different. You see, Asami, um, wanted to go to the Fall Ball with her, but Korra is going with a boy, so Asami thinks that Korra would never be interested in her because she’s a girl, and – “

“Oh, good heavens. Gay drama?” Carmilla rolled her eyes, “I thought I saw some tension between those two. I’ll talk to Laura, she’ll know more about Korra than I do.” She bowed her head slightly in LaFontaine’s direction in goodbye and crept towards her room.

When she creaked the door open slightly, she was relieved to find Laura still fast asleep. Carmilla smiled and snuck inside, carefully closing the door behind her. She tiptoed over to the bedside table, set down the orange juice and took out a large amount of fruit, a muffin, a bagel, a doughnut, and a cup of yogurt from the brown bag.

Laura stirred gently, and turned onto her side so that she faced away from Carmilla. Carmilla removed her shirt and slowly pulled up the covers and slid herself in. She scooted up to Laura’s exposed back and snaked her arm around Laura’s waist.

Carmilla’s cold body made Laura shudder slightly, but she wiggled herself backwards and tugged on Carmilla’s arm, pulling Carmilla closer. Carmilla laced their fingers together and closed her eyes, rubbing the back of Laura’s hand with her thumb. She nuzzled into Laura’s frizzed, wild hair and took a deep breath through her nose.

 _I could get used to this,_ Carmilla thought to herself.

_*******************_

Laura couldn’t stop smiling. She was even reading her _Astrology notes,_ and she kept smiling. She lay on her stomach on her bed, twiddling her quill in one hand and biting the thumb of the other, humming something incredibly long-winded and romantic, and grinned like she’s just won a million galleons.

To her, Carmilla was worth more than a million galleons, but if she ever said that out loud, she knew Danny and Bolin would fall onto the ground laughing. 

The two of them had woken up together this morning, not too long ago. Or, Laura woke up to Carmilla gently stroking her hair. Laura really had no idea how long Carmilla had been awake, but the thought of her watching Laura while she slept in the morning was surprisingly comforting. If it were anyone else in the universe – or, any _thing_ else in the universe, for that matter – Laura would definitely be creeped out about waking up to someone stroking her hair and watching her sleep.

But the gentleness of Carmilla’s smile, the softness of her eyes, the quiet “Morning, sunshine”, the sweetness of her caresses…it was a wonderful way to wake up.

Laura’s smile grew wider as she relived through the morning’s events. Sure, she’d missed a class or two, but it was a _lot_ of fun. They’d talked for a long time, made out for even more time…Laura blushed at the vivid memories.

“Hey you. Want me to open a window? You look tense,” Korra walked in and tossed her bag onto her bed.

Laura turned to her with a guilty grin and incredibly rosy cheeks. “I’m fine, actually. You can keep it closed.”

“Then I’m guessing your whole humming-Sweet-Disposition-and-happily-studying has nothing to do with stress and everything to do with Carmilla?”

“Everything I _did_ with Carmilla, to be precise!” Laura giggled smugly.

Korra cringed. “Oh…”

“Oh Korra, it was so _fantastic!”_ Laura rolled onto her back and flailed her arms above her head, “She is just so beautiful and sweet and I know she genuinely likes me and it’s a huge relief and she’s so hot and she even thinks I’m a good kisser and I just feel _fantastic!_ I mean, I was a little nervous about sneaking into the Slytherin common… _”_

Korra squirmed uncomfortably on her bed. She crossed both her legs and her arms. She knew she didn’t have to say anything, she just had to physically be there and let Laura ramble, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear all of the details about Laura’s “fantastic” evening. She tried zoning out for most of it, but Laura’s high-pitched voice and dramatic hand gestures kept interrupting whatever other trains of thought Korra tried to think about.

“…And I just _cannot_ wait until the Fall Ball coming up. It will be like, the most romantic and perfect thing ever. I feel like I’m finally starting to live a movie.”

Korra’s attention snapped back to Laura again, fully. _Ugh, the Ball._

“Yeah, I’m happy for you, Lo,” Korra forced a smile, “It seems like you two really make each other happy.”

Laura sighed dreamily, “I really don’t deserve her, but I’m glad she thinks I do.” She sat up and put her hands on her knees, swiveling to face Korra. “So, enough about me. How have you been, Ko? I feel like we haven’t talked in a while!”

Korra rolled her eyes at the nickname. Though it was cute that Laura kept trying to make it work, Korra never really liked it. “Well, I’ve been erm, busy,” Korra’s mind raced, looking for better ways to say ‘I’ve been thinking about kissing girls a lot and I’m grossed out by it’ without ever actually saying it. “I’ve had a lot on my mind, too. About the Ball ‘n’ stuff.”

Laura’s face illuminated even brighter. “Oh! Have you figured out who you’re going with yet?”

“Yeah, Mako asked me.”

“Mako? I didn’t know he had a thing for you. Do you like him?”

“No, we’re just going as friends. He made sure that was clear.”

“Oh, okay. Well that will still be fun, you both are good friends, yeah?”

“Yeah. This will be a first Ball for the both of us, so maybe it’ll be nice to go with another newbie.” Only fifth years and above were invited to attend the Ball. Last year, Asami was asked by a guy from Hufflepuff named Wu, and afterwards she and Korra spent the rest of the late night and into the early morning laughing about the awkwardness of the whole shebang. Korra hadn’t thought about it before, but out of her close friends, Asami was the only one to have attended fancy get-together’s like this Fall Ball before. Normally, Korra would be excited to ask Asami for help picking out a dress and going over hairdos and all that girly jazz, but at the moment, that thought made her anxious.

“I’m so excited! It’ll be so fun, don’t you think? Except, I’ll have to freshen on my dancing skills. You and I both know that I could probably scare Carmilla away with my regular, vacuuming-and-jamming techniques,” she gasped, “Korra, do you think we’ll have to learn how to do like, fancy dances?”

 _Uh oh,_ Korra gasped as well, _I didn’t even_ think _about that._ “Hopefully not, I’m not sure I could handle slow-dancing with Mako for even one song.”

“At least you know how to slow dance!”

Korra shrugged. “My parents love to dance in the living room. Sometimes I would join in. Especially when I was little, my dad would turn on some kind of soft music and ask me to dance, and my mom would sit on the couch and sing along.”

“Will you teach me?” Laura begged, “Oh please, I couldn’t _bear_ to step on Carmilla’s toes or anything!”

Korra pursed her lips. She felt anxious again. Would it be weird if she danced with Laura? They were totally just friends, but, Laura liked girls. Korra gulped. This could definitely be uncomfortable.

 _Oh, stop,_ Korra mentally slapped herself, _You’re being ridiculous. Just teach her how to waltz and don’t make it awkward._

“Of course! How about I teach you the waltz?” Korra offered her hand.

Laura squeaked quietly and hopped off her bed. “Yes please!”

Korra pushed herself off of her own bed and dragged her feet over to her bouncy friend. _This isn’t weird, this isn’t weird, this isn’t weird…._ She put a shaky hand on Laura’s shoulder blade and another hand into the air, and instructed Laura to put her hand on Korra’s shoulder and in Korra’s outstretched hand.

“The waltz can be super simple, if you just think of it like a box,” Korra gently nudged her left foot forward, urging Laura to mirror her movements, “It goes in beats of three, so like, 1-2-3, 1-2-3…” Korra counted slowly as she swung her foot diagonally and then backwards, pulling Laura along with her.

Laura’s brow folded in concentration. A couple of times she would step out of beat or out of sequence and Korra would tug her back into their imaginary box, and Laura was getting pretty frustrated.

“Umph!” Laura tripped and began to tumble backwards, before Korra caught her and swiftly yanked her up and into a twirl.

Laura gasped mid-twirl and looked at Korra with large eyes. “Wow, you’re a really good dancer!”

Korra gulped. Laura’s hands were so soft, her hair bounced when it twirled, her lips parted slightly, curved gently…Korra shook her head and refocused back onto Laura’s face. _This is Laura we’re thinking about. Don’t make this any weirder than it already is!_

“Nah,” Korra wiped her palms on her shirt before taking hold of Laura’s hands again, “I’ve just had a lot of practice. You’ll get the hang of it.”

“We’ve been doing this same thing for _ever_ and I can’t figure it out. What am I doing wrong?” Laura pouted.

“Hmm, I don’t know. What if you tried leading?” Korra suggested, switching their hand positions, “That way, you _have_ to figure out the steps, rather than follow what I’m doing. Here, start counting and I’ll follow your pace.”

Laura nodded once firmly before staring at the floor. “1…2…3…” She timidly stepped forward, focusing on imagining a little box for her to step around in. Her other foot slid across the wooden floorboards, before stomping down securely. She brought her feet together and then stepped cautiously backwards.

“Hey! Wait it’s like the same thing over and over again!” Laura looked up at Korra, excited again, “Let’s do this faster!”

Korra tensed, gripping Laura’s hand and shoulder tightly. Laura resumed counting, and stared back at the floor while she began stepping with a little more certainty.

As they danced faster and faster, Laura’s counting got louder and louder until she was practically yelling and laughing. Korra grinned as they began to move their little box around the room, dancing around beds and desks and trunks. Laura played around with different accents as she called out her favorite three numbers, coaxing a chuckle out of Korra, who finally started to relax.

After a while, Laura threw in a few twirls and eyebrow wiggles in the mix. Watching Laura enjoy herself so much put Korra’s mind at ease, and she joined in the laughing and counting in various accents.

Danny opened the door to the room and her eyes widened at the chaos ensuing their dorm. She beamed as she watched her two friends giggle and dance outrageously around the fireplace in the center of the dorm. She leaned up against the frame of the nearest bedpost until the pair of wild dancers came around her way. She stuck her hand out and grabbed Korra’s shoulder, stopping them from going on another round. Korra looked like she was in a gaze, and Laura was breathing heavily.

“Excuse me, miss. Mind if I have a turn with the little fluffy one?” Danny bowed slightly and Korra handed Laura over dramatically. Laura breathlessly mocked flattery before offering to take the lead.

“You know, Miss Lawrence, I know how to lead, if it would please you,” Laura stumbled over her words, obviously a little tired from her excursion with Korra.

Danny laughed, but entertained her tiny friend. “I would be honored, Miss Hollis.”

Korra sat back onto her bed as awkward pair stumbled around the room. Laura must have been at least a foot shorter than Danny, which made twirling extremely difficult. Korra smiled; she’d only been a few inches taller than Laura, but she’d had to duck quite significantly whenever Laura tried twirling her. She chuckled as Danny practically crouched whenever Laura rose her arm.

Unfortunately, the lack of physical activity allowed Korra’s brain to re-tighten and stress began to seep back into her thoughts. She’d really enjoyed dancing with Laura, but she just couldn’t get excited about going to the dance with Mako. If she were completely honest, whenever Korra thought about the dance, she envisioned herself talking and having fun with Asami, not Mako.

Korra swallowed at the reintroduction of Asami into her internal discussion. She hadn’t talked to anyone about her recurring girl-kissing dreams, which was really getting to her. She wanted to stop having the dreams, but the more she thought about them – or, even just thought about girls kissing in general – the harder it was to stop thinking about. Most often, these thoughts consisted of two random, undeterminable girls, but to Korra’s dismay, sometimes the girls were easily identifiable as both Korra and Asami. This troubled Korra tremendously. She wasn’t sure how to bring up the “Korra-thinks-about-girls-kissing-girls-and-sometimes-that-includes-you” conversation. Nor was she sure she should bring it up at all.

It’d been a while since Korra talked to Asami about anything, now that Korra thought about it. She missed Asami. She wondered if she’d gotten any information from those blood samples she gave to that LaFontaine character.

 _Oh yeah,_ Korra remembered glumly, _There’s that whole doppleganger issue, too._

Korra huffed and shoved that thought process out of her brain. She looked back at Laura and Danny as they giddily danced around the room and took a deep breath. Both of those two girls seemed fine with kissing girls. They _liked it,_ even. Maybe, they’d be the ones to talk about. Besides, dancing with Laura didn’t seem as awkward as Korra had worried it would be. It wasn’t awkward at all, in fact. So why was Korra the only one so uncomfortable with the idea of girls kissing each other? More importantly, why did she keep thinking about it?

 _Ugh,_ Korra shuffled over to the shower as Laura and Danny toppled onto one of their beds, laughing furiously and breathing heavily. _I’ll ask them later. For right now, I need to prepare to go to a godforsaken_ dance _with Mr. Downer McSassy-pants, Mako._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next few chapters may take a little longer, so if I don't post Thurs/Sun fear not! I will finish soon and then all will be well and updated regularly.


	14. The Dance Happens and is a Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Hollstein  
> *Bopal  
> *LaFerry  
> *LaF/Asami BROTP  
> *Makorra = bros  
> *...basically a shitton of character interaction  
> *AND GUESS WHAT PLOT POINTS HAPPEN WOAH

Laura stopped for a moment, anxious to watch Carmilla’s reaction to noticing how much effort Laura spent on looking nice tonight. Laura readjusted her necklace, pulled up on the front of her dress for the millionth time, and turned past the large statue at the corner of the staircase that shielded her from Carmilla’s view. 

Carmilla stood at the bottom of the staircase, oblivious. It was obvious to Laura that Carmilla was all sorts of nervous; she paced back and forth, practicing her curtsies and fanning her uncovered armpits with gloved hands. Laura smiled affectionately at her date. Normally, Carmilla was completely suave and acted like she was always in complete control, but Laura liked to think that Carmilla got just as flustered as anyone when she was planning on how to ask Laura out, or while she was writing that silly note the first time they’d interacted. Carmilla’s aimless flitting about seemed proof of that to Laura now, and Laura was hesitant to ruin the moment.

Eventually, however, excitement got the best of her. She beamed as she slowly descended down the marble stairwell. Her teeth shone brightly in a massive smile, and her eyes glowed with youthful elation. She was wearing the necklace Carmilla gave her; it rested above the laced crest of her pale yellow, flowing, sleeveless dress. She was positively radiant. 

It took a little while to draw Carmilla out of her pacing. She was completely focused on whatever pump-up speech she was giving herself, until a glimmer of yellow caught her eye. She glanced sideways briefly, before double-taking and nearly passing out. She gaped, entranced. For a moment, she forgot that she was waiting to enter her hundredth trivial teenage ball; she forgot that she was holding a single, faded white rose, she forgot that she, herself, was wearing a relatively uncomfortable, dark blue, floor-length, silk slit dress, and she forgot how to breathe. There was only Laura, slowly descending from the platform and slowly making her way towards Carmilla.

A smile leaked onto Carmilla’s face as Laura cheekily stepped off of the stairs and began strolling over towards her. All of Carmilla’s thoughts escaped her and her body tingled with a strong, fuzzy, warm feeling. She picked up the back of her navy dress and leaned forward slightly in an elegant curtsy, but she never took her eyes off of Laura’s.

Laura giggled and curtsied with a little less elegance, but no less awe. She raised a delicate hand, which Carmilla took and kissed gently, before offering her the rose. Laura took the rose graciously and put it up to her nose, inhaling deeply. She picked up Carmilla’s hand and rubbed the back of it with her thumb.

“You look…” Carmilla placed her other hand on Laura’s cheek, and lightly stroked it. She couldn’t quite find the words to describe Laura; “stunning” was too cliché, “amazing” was meaningless, and “beautiful” was insufficient…

Laura didn’t need her to finish her sentence. “You don’t look too bad yourself. Which, by the way, _wow!”_

Carmilla slid her hand to Laura’s chin and pulled her in for a soft kiss.

Laura hummed into the kiss, but broke it off abruptly. “Hey! We can’t start kissing now, or we’ll never get to dancing!” She laced her fingers through Carmilla’s and headed towards the dining hall. Laura’s usual bounciness was stunted partially due to her heels, but Carmilla still found herself being dragged into the scene. She didn’t mind, though. Laura’s backside did look particularly…”wow”.

The hall was entirely changed. Carmilla hardly recognized it. Massive, diamond chandeliers hung from a dark, star-dusted ceiling that must have been enchanted to appear as endless and open as the regular night sky. In contrast, the walls and most of the decorations were a brilliant, sparkling white. There were a few clusters of circular tables on the right of the room, and an extensively long, rectangular table overflowed with fruit trays, fondue fountains and chocolate-dipped pastries.

Carmilla looked at Laura and watched her face light up. Laura’s smile grew gradually, leaking into her eyes and seeping down into her fingers, so that Carmilla could feel Laura’s heartbeat pound into their intertwined hands. Laura bounced slightly up and down and met Carmilla’s gaze with shining, hazelnut eyes.

Carmilla squeezed her hand lightly, making Laura squeak and kiss her on the cheek again. Her face burned at the spot where Laura’s lips touched. Carmilla took note: one hand squeeze equals one cheek kiss. She’d have to figure out all the ways to make Laura hug and kiss her tonight. She grinned as Laura bolted towards the food table, where her friends would undoubtedly be stuffing their faces. Besides the inevitable small talk with Laura’s awkward Gryffindor friends, it was going to be a good night.

_________

“Perry, everything is _fine,”_ LaFontaine rolled their eyes as Perry scuttled about the kitchen, managing the house-elves as they baked pastries and cut fruit into cute little shapes. “Seriously Per, I doubt the people eating those star-shaped strawberries won’t even notice they’re star-shaped until they’ve half consumed them, anyways!”

Perry looked up at LaFontaine with panic in her eyes and a little bit of melted flour in her otherwise ridiculously gorgeous, curly red hair. “They won’t?! Is that because the star shapes aren’t dramatic enough? Oh dear, I need to make them more noticeable…”

“No, no, no, stop! The shapes are great! The students just won’t care about the shape as much as they do the chocolate fountain that they dip the fruit into,” LaFontaine chuckled and waved their hands dismissively. “Now, let’s leave these awesome little workers to do their job for the evening so you and I can go dance.”

“Dance?” Perry wiped her hands on the apron she was wearing before taking it off and hanging it on a hook, “What dance? Oh! Right, the ball! Yes, yes of course we ought to go to that… but don’t you think these elves still need our help?

LaFontaine crossed their arms playfully.

“Oh, you’re right we should just go. Do I look okay?” Perry checked herself in the mirror and dusted out some of the flour from her tight, amber curls.

“You look amazing,” LaFontaine sighed and smiled contentedly, before offering their arm. “Shall we go, m’lady?”

Perry blushed and curtsied. “We shall, O Charming One.”

“Charming? I like the sound of that!” LaFontaine’s eyes sparkled as Perry took their arm.

\-----

Mako slouched in his chair at the table Bolin had grabbed for their group. His bowtie was crooked, his vest thing was too tight, his dress coat was atrocious, and he didn’t want to look Korra in the eye. He didn’t want to look anybody in the eye, for that matter.

He hated to admit it, but he was watching Danny. She looked absolutely…Mako’s eyebrows dipped, forming a sad frown. She looked beautiful. He grunted and turned away, refusing to let himself be pitiful. He could be grumpy, but not sad.

Korra sat next to him, slouching equally as deeply. She didn’t look so grumpy or sad as much as she looked plain bored. They sat with their backs facing each other, leaning far enough in their chairs that their heads almost touched. Korra knew that he pose wasn’t exactly lady-like, and that she should probably at least close or cross her legs given her unfortunately revealing silk dress, but she didn’t care. She was miserable. Bolin and Opal looked like they were having a great time, Asami hadn’t shown up yet, and there was no way Laura would care to talk to her while Carmilla was wearing was she was. Korra had to give the Slytherin girl credit, she looked good. _Dang_ good.

 _No, stop!_ Korra shook her head. _She looks nice, just like everyone else here. Stop thinking about girls like that, it’s weird._ Korra was losing the battle between her willpower and her subconscious in the fight for what she thought about. She wanted more than anything just to talk about it with someone, but she knew that as soon as the subject came up, Laura and Danny would probably just say that she is gay, Mako and Bolin would make it extremely awkward, and Asami would probably never want to talk to her again. None of those options seemed worth it to Korra.

Korra grunted in frustration. Why was she thinking about this again? It was stressing her out. She should be dancing right now, not stressing out.

Mako grunted behind her. Korra turned and sniped over her shoulder. “What are _you_ brooding about?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Of course it’s my business! You asked me to come to this stupid Ball with you, and then you told me that you just wanted to go as friends, and now you won’t even talk to me? What’s wrong with you?”

“It’s nothing, okay?”

“Okay, fine. Do you want to dance then?” Korra turned so that she was sitting sideways in her chair.

Mako’s shoulders slumped. “I’m not really in the mood right now. You should go, though. Go, go have fun.”

Korra frowned and swiveled her chair all the way around, so that she was facing Mako’s back. “Okay, I thought you were just being a punk, but obviously something’s wrong. What’s up?”

Mako glanced over his shoulder at the short-haired girl staring at him intently. “It’s nothing, really.”

“Mako. I know you better than that,” Korra tilted her head, “Really, what’s eating at you? We should both be having fun tonight, but I won’t if I know that you’re miserable about something.”

Mako sighed again and turned, dropping his arm over the back of the chair. “I don’t know,” He picked at his fingernails, “I guess I just…wish that I was kind of here with someone else.”

Korra raised an eyebrow. “Dang, well okay. Sorry that I’m such a lame date.”

“No, no it’s not you!” Mako nudged her, “You’re great, really. I’m just not into you like that. You know, like a date. You’re my friend. I kind of wanted to be here with a date-date, you know?”

Korra nodded, smiling sympathetically. “Yeah, no I feel the same way. But why’d you ask me in the first place?”

Mako shrugged. “Well, I guess the person that I wanted to ask was already taken.”

“Ouch! This just gets worse!” Korra punched him in the arm teasingly, “Not only am I a lame date, but I’m a second-string option? That hurts, bro."

“I guess you’re right, that was kind of a dick move,” Mako blushed, “Sorry. I didn’t think about it like that. I just thought, you know since we’re both friends, and well I’m not sure that you’re into anyone right now, so…”

A picture of Asami immediately popped into Korra’s head. Korra tried to blink the image away and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Er, nope. Not into anyone.” Mako looked both surprised and unconvinced, so she turned the focus back to him. “Okay no but I’m curious, who was your first-string?”

The corners of Mako’s mouth flicked upwards and he looked out over the dancefloor. Korra breathed out a sigh of relief as he didn’t prod further into Korra’s own messed up feelings. His leg started to bounce and he swallowed deeply. “Well, erm, I was actually planning on asking Danny.”

It was Korra’s turn to be surprised. “Danny?! Dan the man?!” She blurted out, turning several heads in their direction.

“Yes, her. Now will you keep it down?” Mako’s face brightened and he threw his hands out to silence his boisterous friend.

“Oh my gosh, that is so great!” Korra strained to keep her voice down, “I am so happy for you! Except, wait. Isn’t she here with Kirsch?”

“Exactly, dumbass.”

“Oh. Yikes, bro, I’m sorry. Kirsch is a great guy.”

“Yes, I know that, thank you,” Mako huffed and stood up, “You’re not helping.”

“Sorry, sorry you’re right,” Korra followed him as he briskly stalked over to the nearest fondue fountain. “Well, I don’t think she likes Kirsch. What if you just went over and asked her to dance?”

Mako’s frown lines deepened. “Wouldn’t that be kind rude? She’s here with Kirsch.”

“Just one dance? I don’t think it would be that bad,” Korra shrugged and grabbed a small paper plate, “They do it in those old movies Laura made us watch, remember? The guy just walks up to the couple, taps the man on the shoulder, says something cliché and classy like ‘may I?’ and then the girl curtsies and – “

“Okay, okay fine, I’ll try it,” Mako stabs an outrageously decorative banana and sticks it under the third tier of the thick waterfall of chocolate. “But maybe, do you think you could dance with Kirsch while I dance with Danny? I feel like that would make it less awkward or something.”

Korra shrugged. “Okay, sure. But you owe me one.”

“Deal,” Mako stacked his plate with a variety of exotic melons and frilly pastries. “Now, are you going to fess up about who you have a crush on now? I didn’t think you liked anyone, but you’re a terrible liar and I want to know who the lucky guy is.”

Korra blushed and stuffed her face with an enormous, crème-filled doughnut. She shook her head furiously, spreading the vanilla filling all over her cheeks.

“And, who might this be?” Bolin twirled his wrist dramatically before bending at the waist and offering his hand to a very unenthused Carmilla, who allowed the strangely large male to take and kiss the back of her elegant, pale hands.

“This is Carmilla!” Laura giggled, entirely entertained.

“Oh?” Opal shoved Bolin out of the way and shook the hand he hand kissed, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Carmilla. My name is Opal. Laura’s told Bolin and me _so_ much about you.”

“I hope not too much,” Carmilla retrieved her hand and wiped the back of it slyly on her dress. Though Laura was enjoying every disgusting moment of this torture they called small talk, Carmilla was about ready to spoon out her eyeballs. She was ready to just _dance already_ , and get on with the post-event activities of the evening.

“Enough for us to be glad that Laura’s met you, for sure!” Bolin chirped, “Fortunately for us, you’ve officially taken over as Laura’s venting-source, relieving the rest of us of the daily chore of listening to her rant about boy bands, and muggle TV shows, and newspapers, and –“

“Hey!” Laura smacked him, “You _love_ talking about boy bands!” Carmilla laughed, approving of the stocky, square-chinned boy in front of her. She had to agree with him, once Laura got talking about any of those things, it was hard to get her to stop.

“Yeah, well, you owe me a drink for that,” Carmilla winked, earning a curious look from Opal, “And don’t worry, your gorgeous girlfriend is invited as well.” Opal grinned and blushed, but Laura gasped.

“Oh! Look, Carm, it’s this song!” Laura slid her arm down Carmilla’s until their fingers intertwined. “Sorry guys, we’d better go, we haven’t been dancing yet and you know how much I love this song, right, Carm?”

Bolin and Opal waved cheerfully as Laura dragged Carmilla into the middle of the dancefloor.

 -----------

Perry was nervous for this dance. Perry was nervous for a lot of things, but this dance was especially nerve-wracking. She just couldn’t stop overanalyzing and perfecting and micro-managing and _Who let that tray of cookies out of the kitchen?! The frosting on them is despicable_ and _Oh, dear dear dear there is a STAIN on that white tablecloth! That will take HOURS to scrub out_ and _Goodness gracious, LaFontaine certainly does look quite dapper in their dress robes! I wonder if they’ll ask me to dance…_

A lot was running through her mind. Which was actually somewhat normal for Perry – she wasn’t a Prefect for nothing.

However, she could tell her anxious jitters were getting to LaFontaine, and she would never forgive herself if she ruined this night for them. Perry knew how much they’d anticipated this Ball; they’d gone to extreme lengths to conjure the perfect perfume as a gift in asking her to go with them, and that outfit couldn’t have been cheap.

Some way or another, Perry had to find a way to calm herself down. Just be _chill,_ as LaFontaine liked to call it.

She looked around the hall and tried to focus on all the fun everyone seemed to be having. Several groups and couples filled the dancefloor, all smiling and laughing or at the very least swaying to the beat. Several other groups peppered the tables and loitered around the edges of the room, flirting and awkwardly socializing.

Finally, she saw LaFontaine, talking to the curtains.

 _Talking to the curtains??_ Perry blinked, _What is LaFontaine doing?_

She quickly scanned for judgmental eyes or gestures. Goodness gracious, LaF. Perry’s nerves were already on their last ends about the mess that the fondue fountains were making, and the public displays of affection going on in every corner of the hall were enough to make Perry’s anxiety climb to levels of nausea. Why did LaFontaine have to make it worse by talking to the curtains?! Had they slipped themselves some Fire Whisky before they picked Perry up at the kitchen? Did they accidentally cast a crazy-person spell on themselves while Perry wasn’t looking? Did one of their ridiculous experiments backfire on them and the effects were just now hitting them?!

Perry picked up the front of her very large dress and scurried over to them, setting several bouncy strands of curls from her very meticulous hairdo. She should’ve expected something embarrassing to happen. LaFontaine was having a very good time with those curtains, it would seem. They always had a good time when they made a fool of themselves in public places.

Like that one time, when LaF bought tickets to Perry’s favorite opera, and managed to get them both kicked out for signing along too loudly. Or, when LaFontaine fed a stray cat some of their Love Potion attempts and set it loose in the Owlry. Or, Perry blushed at the memory, when they caused an elderly woman to feint when they tried on men’s swimsuits in a clothing store and walked out of the dressing room area to showcase their new favorite swim trunks to the entire women’s underwear section.

Perry stopped mid-scurry. She looked at her partner as they laughed and drank with the tall sheets of fabric hanging over the windows at the end of the hall, and smiled. Why was she so anxious? She loved her silly friend. LaF’s quirks were what made them so worth hanging out with in the first place. Getting embarrassed about LaF was just part of the routine. Perry’d grown to love that routine. Or, she’d grown to love LaFontaine.

She spent a few more seconds watching LaFontaine engage in an apparently stimulating conversation with fondness rather than embarrassment. That was _her_ dork talking to those curtains. They came to this semi-perfect Ball with _her,_ so what was there to be anxious about? If she and LaFontaine could work out, what couldn’t?

She fixed her hair in the reflection of one of the plates next to her, and confidently strode over to her silly, dapper date.

*********************

“Asami? What are you –“

“Shh!! I’m hiding, what does it look like I’m doing?” Asami whispered from behind the curtains in the back of the room.

“Who are you hiding from? ‘Cuz if it’s the Dean, you don’t need to worry anymore. I just saw her leave.” LaFontaine couldn’t help but laugh. Asami looked absolutely amazing in her one sleeved, deep red silk dress. A huge slit ran down her left side, showing off her long, slender legs and dramatic heels. Her thick hair sultrily fell down in loose waves on her bare shoulder, exposing her elegant neck. It was funny to see Asami Sato, dressed to kill, hiding behind curtains in the back of the school’s most popular dance.

“Shh! Will you keep it down?!” Asami panicked, “I’m hiding from my date, Wu.”

LaFontaine had to bite their cheek to keep from bursting out in another round of chuckles. “Wu? I thought you ‘hated his guts’?”

“I do, I do,” Asami rolled her eyes, “I just…Mako had already asked Korra, and I was feeling rebellious and angsty, and I don’t know. I thought it would be dramatic.”

“Oh, well if ‘dramatic’ is what you were going for, I’d say you nailed it,” LaFontaine’s cheeks burned with the need to laugh as they watched her date flail around in the center of the dancefloor, “He’s currently inventing a new form of the ‘chicken dance’. It’s extremely dramatic. Why don’t you join him?”

“Shut up. I would rather eat my own vomit than dance with him.”

“That’s disgusting,” LaFontaine looked back at Wu, who leapt into the air, twirled, and landed in a perfect split on the floor, before crying out in pain and curling into a ball. “But I see your point. Are you just going to hang out here all night?”

Asami sighed. “If I have to. I don’t really want to get stuck with…anyone from Gryffindor, either.”

“Ah. Still avoiding Korra, I see?”

“I’m not avoiding her!” Asami blushed, “I’m just, you know, I don’t want to talk to her for a while.”

“So why are you avoiding her?”

“I’m not! Ugh,” Asami’s shoulders fell, “I don’t know. Well actually, I do know. She’s straight and I was stupid for thinking I should ask her out.”

“How do you know she’s straight?”

“She came here with Mako!”

“Does she like him?”

“Probably!” Asami huffed, “I don’t know, she seemed pretty excited when she came and asked permission to date him.”

LaFontaine choked on their drink. “She…asked _your_ _permission_ to date him?”

“Well, yeah,” Asami frowned, “I dated him once and she wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be upset.”

LaFontaine blinked twice. “You dated him?”

Asami opened her mouth to respond, thought for a second, and smirked. LaFontaine raised an eyebrow and took another swig from their cup.

“You’re right, LaF,” Asami chuckled, “I’m being ridiculous. I should just go talk to her. I mean, even if she doesn’t feel the same way about me, I’m sure she’ll want to talk to me as a friend. Who am I kidding, I want to talk to her as at least a friend, too!”

“Sure thing,” LaFontaine laughed heartily, “Although, I’m not sure I actually gave you any of that advice. You pretty much came up with all of that on your own, you just needed a catalyst.”

“Whatever,” Asami stepped out of the curtains and gave them a hug. “Still, thanks.”

“What the heck?!” Perry chirped, making both LaFontaine and Asami jump. “Asami? Were you there the whole time?”

Asami tucked a stand of hair behind her ear and giggled. “I’d been there for a while, yes. Didn’t you see LaF talking to me?”

Perry shrugged. “Well, I saw them talking to the curtains, which wouldn’t be out of the range of possibility.”

LaFontaine looked at Asami and laughed again. “Actually, I was talking to the curtains. Sorry Asami, you’re just not as dynamic of a conversationalist.”

Asami snorted. “If that’s how you feel about me, I’m going to go talk to Korra, then. Wish me luck! Have fun, you two.”

“Oh, we will,” LaFontaine wiggled their eyebrows at Perry, who huffed and blushed. “Good luck!”

***

Bolin’s hands were extremely clammy. Clammy enough for his napkin to permanently stick to one. He hated when this happened. Normally, he was only this nervous before big matches or term exams. But now, he was nervous about dancing.

Bolin was an _awful_ dancer. It was like his feet, his hips, and his shoulders all spoke different languages. He loved dancing, but only when we was absolutely, 100%, positively certain that no one could see him. He’d mastered the art of singing and dancing in the shower. But at a Ball? With all of his peers fifteen and older within an quarter mile vicinity? Noooooo thank you.

Except, Opal looked absolutely adorable and he desperately wanted to be able to make her swoon over his intense (lack of) dancing skills. So, there Bolin was, holding his tiny plastic cup of wizard punch, shifting his weight back and forth, with a very bored Opal picking at her nail polish next to him.

“The, uh, ceiling looks nice,” Bolin gulped, swirling the contents of his cup, “Very, erm, sparkly. I’d even say dazzling.”

Opal rolled her eyes and hummed affirmatively. Bolin wiped his forehead with the back of his free hand.

“You know what else is dazzling?” Bolin offered, earning a pair of hopeful eyes look up at him, “Those chandeliers! Don’t they just sparkle?”

Opal groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose with her gloved hands. “They look great. Can we dance now?”

Bolin winced. “Uh, yeah! Yeah totally, I was just about to ask you! Yessiree, I really want to dance with you! Yes yes yes, yep. Dancing, yes. It’s gonna be great.”

“ _Finally!”_ Opal grabbed his cup and threw it in the nearest trashcan, then pulled him towards the center of the hall.

If it weren’t for his thundering heartbeat and the gallon of nervous sweat glazing his palms, Bolin would have been falling head over heels for the enormous smile plastered on Opal’s face as the band strummed up the next song. It was an upbeat song, with a lot of trumpet and some saxophone. Opal let go of his hands and started to bounce to the beat, kicking her feet and throwing her arms around in a manner that should have seemed careless, but actually looked quite fun. Her necklace bobbed against her neck, and her earrings jangled to and fro. She saw Laura and Carmilla trying to swing dance and waved, laughing.

Bolin was in awe. Opal made it look so easy! Her hips twisted as she swiveled around on the balls of her feet, and her hands followed her chest like they’d choreographed and practiced for ages. He stood there, frozen, and twiddled his thumbs uncomfortably.

Opal noticed his  and faced him, snapping her fingers to the beat. “Don’t you just love this song?”

“Yeah, you know, I uh, _darnit,_ I have to go to the bathroom. You stay here and have fun, and I’ll just –“

“Oh, no you don’t!” Opal hopped in front of him, blocking his escape, “You literally just peed. What’s wrong?”

Bolin looked at the floor and resumed shifting his weight from foot to foot. “I just, uh, drank too much.”

“That’s not your pee dance, Bolin,” Opal teased, “I know you too well for you to get by with that excuse. What’s going on with you?”

“I just,” Bolin kept his head low, “I just don’t know how to dance, okay?”

Opal stopped bouncing. “Is that why it took so long for you to ask me – well, is that why you _didn’t_ ask me to dance?”

“Maybe,” Bolin scratched his ear, “Probably. Yes. Look, I’m sorry, but you’re just so pretty when you dance and I wish I could look that good but I don’t, I just trip over myself and I didn’t want to embarrass you.”

“Oh, stop it, you dramatic lug!” Opal laughed and looped her arm through Bolin’s elbow, “It’s fun! Don’t worry about what you look like, just let yourself move to the music!”

“That’s what everybody says, but my body doesn’t know how to ‘move to the music’. It moves to it’s own music.”

“That’s perfect! Just, focus on me, and we’ll have fun, okay?” Opal took both of his hands and started to sway them back and forth. Bolin nodded and allowed his arms to be gently swung. Gradually, Opal began to add other things to their little dance, like bending their wrists or rotating their hips.

Eventually, they began twirling and spinning each other until they’d claimed a significant circle of space in the middle of the floor, as the other couples backed away and tried to avoid any flailing limbs or whipping articles of clothing.

By the end of the song, both of them were coated in a thin sheen of sweat, and were grinning from ear to ear. The next song was a slower song, and Opal collapsed into Bolin’s arms.

“You danced wonderfully, lug,” Opal whispered into his ear.

“Couldn’t have done it without you,” Bolin put his hand on her waist and began to rock their bodies to the quiet strum of the guitar.

They swayed softly for a few moments, before Bolin tensed and released his hold on Opal.

“Actually,” Bolin chuckled, “I kind of do need to use the little wizard’s room, now. I really did drink way too much punch.”

Opal laughed and kissed his cheek. “I’ll be here! Hurry, another good song is coming up.”

Bolin walked briskly over to the nearest doorway, where he hoped a restroom would be nearby. He paused at the corner of the door and watched his Opal as she glided across the wood floor over to where Korra and Mako were standing. He loved the way she moved; so quietly elegant. It was like she floated from place to place. He smiled, shook his head, and darted down the hallway.

**************

Laura and Carmilla had spent the majority of the evening holding each other closely on the dance floor. The music varied from extremely slow, melodic jazz to pop culture, and the two of them hadn’t wasted a minute. Now, Carmilla had both of her arms wrapped loosely around Laura’s waist, and Laura dozed on Carmilla’s shoulder.

“Hey, I thought of another question to ask.”

“Mmm, what is it?” Laura hummed, her eyes closed.

“If you could go anywhere in the world, but only for one day, where would you –”

“The Swiss Alps.”

Carmilla’s eyebrows raised. “That was both surprisingly immediate and oddly random.”

Laura laughed, pulling herself reluctantly off of Carmilla’s shoulder. “It’s not the first time I’ve been asked that question.”

“Oh? Should I be concerned about other suitors asking intimate questions?”

“No, silly,” Laura bonked her nose against Carmilla’s, making Carmilla’s heart practically feint, “I just have very thoughtful friends. And, wealthy ones. Korra’s friend Asami and I were never very close, but once, she helped pay for me and my dad to travel to Ecuador for a whole month! I’ve actually traveled a lot of the world during summers. But Switzerland is yet to be crossed off on my list. And, considering _you_ were the one that asked…it makes a difference on my answer! If Bolin asked, I probably would have said like, Romania, so we could check out dragons. If Korra asked, I would definitely have said somewhere near a beach so we could both learn how to surf.”

“So, why the Swiss Alps for me?”

“Picture this: a cozy cottage, tucked away somewhere in the frosted forests of the Swiss mountains, a short hike away from a romantic, lazy village, where we could see the stars and constellations perfectly, and we could drink really fancy Swiss hot chocolate, and…” Laura blushed, “…and I would get you all to myself, without any distractions or interruptions.”

Carmilla’s eyes shimmered with fantasy. “You’re quite the dreamer, you know that, cupcake?”

“Nothing wrong with that though, is there?” Laura rested her forehead against Carmilla, and they swayed slowly to the end of the song, “I got the girl. Some dreams do come true.”

Carmilla felt a slow burn begin to ache in the bottom of her throat. Her heart felt like it was being pumped with helium and would explode at the slightest touch. This Laura, this fluffy little yellow girl was so bright, so loving…it was almost too much. It was too good to be true, but it _was_ true. It was the truest thing she could remember feeling since she was alive. She _felt_ alive. This tiny little Laura Hollis had given her life.  

Suddenly, her nose tingled. A foul, dank scent assaulted her senses, triggering his pupils to dilate and her fangs to threaten.

She jolted back from Laura and rubbed her eyes, desperate to fight off whatever strange reaction was overcoming her.

“Carm? You okay?” Laura’s voice wavered, like she’d seen something strange, “There’s something wrong with your eyes…what’s wr –“

“Ah, allergic reaction,” Carmilla kept her hands in her face, trying to hide her eyes from Laura’s sight, “Sorry cupcake, I’ll be right back.”

Carmilla dashed out of the room and headed towards the nearest ladies’ washroom. The scent grew stronger as she rounded the corner, and her mind clouded over with a strange instinct to either hunt or flee. It wasn’t an entirely new experience. In fact, there was a tinge of familiarity in the way her body was itching all over, but she just couldn’t remember what it was that had triggered this kind of reaction before.

She was simultaneously drawn towards and pushed away from the smell, as if her body was waiting for her brain to make a decision. Once she decided to pursue the smell, her muscles began to push her towards the source of the smell. Her nostrils strained, her fangs pierced her mouth, and her eyes blackened.

As Carmilla’s body reverted to primal vampiric instinct, she became aware of another sense, a sense of _danger._ Her ears pricked at the sound of someone screaming in a nearby hallway. She took off, throwing off her shoes and sprinting down the hall at inhuman speeds in the direction of the scream – which, incidentally, happened to also be in the same direction of the source of the smell.

*******************

Kirsch was a nice guy. Really, he was. He just wasn’t, well, _her_ nice guy.

Mako, on the other hand, was kind of a douche. Okay, he was a good guy, too, but he definitely had his douchebag moments. Mostly, it was only his fiery temper that made qualified him as a “douche”. But, he was _her_ douche. Or, he was her mostly-good-guy-with-kind-of-a-temper.

He looked good tonight, too. Dang, he looked good.

“Danny, you okay?” Kirsch looked at her with huge, brown, puppy dog eyes and Danny could tell he knew that she wasn’t paying any attention to whatever story he was telling next.

“Hm? Oh, yes, sorry, I’m fine. Keep going,” Danny put on her best smile and nodded furiously, “You were saying? Ah, about the time you and your bros lit off that firecracker behind the Quidditch pitch?”

Kirsch sighed. “Oh, um, well actually I already finished telling that story.”

Danny blinked. “Oh, riiiight. Ha ha, that was a funny story. Um, what were you talking about again?”

“Why did you say yes to coming with me to the dance, anyways?” Kirsch dropped their intertwined hands and let go of her waist, “If you didn’t want to go with me, you could have just said so.”

“No,” Danny put a hand on his upper arm, trying to comfort him, “Kirsch, you’re a great guy, and I was excited to go with you!” Kirsch’s eyebrows knit together, and though Danny could tell he was trying to be tough, she knew he was a big softie on the inside. “I just, sorry, I’m a little distracted tonight. I think I’m just not, you know, into you like that.”

“Oh.” Kirsch’s shoulders fell another foot. “I get it.”

“I’m sorry, Kirsch,” Danny smiled sympathetically, “What do you say we finish this dance though, eh? Just as friends.”

Kirsch nodded. “Thanks, Red.”

Danny would have punched him for using that nickname, when a flash of silver glimmered in the corner of her eye and caught her attention. She looked at the windows and saw a bright, full moon peer through the silk curtains in the windows.

Her eyes dilated and she began to pant. She bit her lip and shook her head rapidly.

“Sorry…I uh, forgot something…” Danny threw herself away from a very confused Kirsch and towards the nearest exit. She fumbled through her purse, looking for her daily potion to stop her from…

 _Ooooooohhh!_ Danny’s head throbbed, a sudden and overwhelming wave of darkness enveloped her, blinding her for a split second. She couldn’t believe she’d been so foolish, forgetting to take her potion on the _day_ of the Halloween full moon.

She clambered into the hallway, her feet cramping and her shoulders already beginning to morph.

 _“Gaaaarrrgh!”_ Danny grumbled loudly, her head splitting and her vision fading quickly as pain seeped through her body.

Finally, she found her emergency flask, and drained its contents. Her bones resumed their human placement, and her mind defogged. She knew it was only temporary, and she would have no control over the next two evenings of the cycle, requiring a two-day retreat, but for now, she could go back to the Ball in peace.

Danny sat on the floor with her head up against the cold, stone wall, and allowed herself a few more minutes of rest before reentering the situation with Kirsch.

Until suddenly, she heard a scream coming from around the corner. Instantly, her senses were reinvigorated and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. A vile smell, the smell of death itself, leaked into her nose and set off a chain of internal alarms. In a split second, she was on her feet and racing towards where the scream came from, hoping she wouldn’t encounter the thing with such a horrible smell.

When she rounded the corner, she nearly passed out due to the overwhelming reek of cold, empty death. Bolin lay on his back, in a shining, hot pool of his own blood. A dark figure bent over him, pressing its head up against his neck. Danny yelped, alarming the figure. When black eyes met green, Danny regretted having taken the potion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the updates have taken so long!! I will try to wrap this up ASAP. Stay tuned for more info!


	15. Vampires Are A Thing? Dangit.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Will Bolin be okay?!  
> *LaF tells Korra about her non-human blood  
> *I love the dynamic between Danny/Carmilla and Opal/Asami. I LIVE FOR THE WEIRD.  
> *mostly major character stuff, not much Mako or Perry in this one.

When Carmilla, with blood dripping from her bared fangs and soaking her long dress, made eye contact with Danny, she panicked. She leapt over to Danny, covering her mouth.

 _“There’s no time to explain!”_ Carmilla hissed, “Help me take him –“

“No!” Danny pried Carmilla’s hands off, “I know what you are: _vampire!_ I won’t help you take him anywhere!”

“Stupid Clifford!” Carmilla pushed Danny up against the wall, shoving into her neck, “Of course you’re the werewolf, it’s only fitting! I wasn’t hurting him. He needs to get to the hospital wing, but I’m afraid I can’t be here any longer –“

“Why, so no one finds out you’re a vampire?” Danny choked out, “I won’t let you get away with this! _Murderer!”_

Carmilla groaned and let Danny drop. “ _I didn’t murder him, idiot!_ I was trying to _save_ him. I had to re-puncture his wounds and close them so the bleeding would stop!”

“I…don’t believe you!” Danny rubbed her sore neck and climbed up off of the floor.

“We don’t have _time_ for you not to believe me, dimwit!” Carmilla grabbed Danny’s shoulders, digging her nails into her skin, “There’s just too much blood for me…I just can’t _control myself_ right now. Surely you understand that of all people, don’t you, Big Red?”

“Don’t _call_ me that, Zombie.”

“Will you shut up and take him to the hospital wing?! I need to go find whoever did this before they get away!”

“Fine. But if you tell anyone what you know about me, I’ll tear you to shreds.”

“I thought it was an understood mutual-hatred-and-silence-agreement, Balto.”

Carmilla sprinted down the hall and turned into the stairwell, leaving Danny to stew in her adrenaline and mixed emotions. 

She ran over to Bolin’s side and took his pulse. Whoever attacked him had been extremely sloppy; gaping bite marks, leaving him stranded in the middle of the hallway, breaking into the biggest vein in his neck…Danny wasn't a vampire, but it wasn’t hard to guess that whoever had done this was new to the game. She could also tell that though Bolin was still barely alive – judging by the almost inexistent pulse rate and the unfathomable amount of blood surrounding them – he didn’t have much time. She knew she couldn’t get him to the hospital wing in time; at least, not by herself. Not as a human.

“SOMEBODY! HELP!” She yelled out, running down the hall frantically. Now she _really_ regretted taking that potion: she would’ve had Carmilla killed and Bolin safely asleep in the hospital wing by now.

“PLEASE, SOMEBODY! HELP!” She burst into the ballroom, turning every head in the entire dining hall in her direction. “ANYBODY, HELP! IT’S BOLIN!”

**********

Mako paced outside the Hospital Wing, grumbling to himself. Korra sat silently with Danny and Laura, all fraught with worry. Asami, Perry and LaFontaine stood a ways off, wanting to help but not wanting to intrude. A deep tension filled the air, as Laura mindlessly dabbed the remainder of Bolin’s blood off of Danny’s forearms and dress.

The Ball had been cut short, and the rest of the castle were kept in their House Common Areas to avoid any more attacks.

That much was clear: it had been an attack. Bolin was attacked. Gaping bite marks in his thick neck proved evidence of an attack. But little else was certain. A hundred questions hung in the air around the little group waiting outside the Hospital Wing. Who attacked him? _What_ attacked him? Was it still in the castle? _Why_ Bolin?

Korra looked around their group and mentally took roll, again. Everyone was accounted for, except for Carmilla. Opal was inside, clinging to Bolin’s pale and limp hands, but Carmilla was nowhere to be seen. She wondered if Laura knew where Carmilla was, but something told Korra that Laura didn’t.

“Hey, Lo,” Korra whispered, “Hey, you okay?”

“Peachy. Why?” Laura looked a little shocked. They all were.

“Well, I’m just thinking. I haven’t seen Carmilla in a while, and I was hoping you knew where she was?”

The blood in Laura’s already gaunt-looking face drained. “Carmilla?? She went to the bathroom, and then this all happened…” Her eyes filled with fearful tears, “You don’t think she…was attacked too, do you? Oh gosh, I can’t believe I forgot about her…where is she?”

“Right here, cupcake,” Carmilla appeared next to them almost instantaneously, with several large tears in her dress and very tired eyes.

“Oh, thank heavens!” Laura jumped up and embraced Carmilla, burying her tiny head into her dark, wavy hair.

“Where have _you_ been, blood-sucker?” Danny growled, eyes low and nostrils flaring.

“ _Away,_ ” Carmilla hissed, “Trying to keep myself – and everyone else -- _safe_.”

Laura and Korra looked at each other, confused at their friends’ sudden antagonism towards each other.

“What’s wrong, Danny?” Korra placed a warm hand on Danny’s thigh, but quickly drew it back when Danny tensed further.

“Nothing!” Danny snarled, “Nothing’s wrong. Just…don’t trust this creep.”

“You need to work on your insults, Clifford,” Carmilla grumbled, earning a strange look from Laura.

“What’s gotten into you two?” Laura loosened her grip on Carmilla’s arms, “What happened?”

Carmilla turned her attention back to Laura and softened her expression. “It’s complicated, cupcake. There’s just a little mistrust going on around the castle since this attack.”

“Mistrust indeed,” Danny mumbled. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and she clenched her jaw fiercely. She kept her eyes trained on Carmilla’s pale face.

Korra and Laura shared another look. Obviously, something had happened between the two that neither of them were willing to talk about. So what was it?

Then again, everyone in the room was pretty restless. Waiting to hear about Bolin had them all on edge. It could very well be likely that Danny was just irritable from having to wear a formal dress, and Carmilla was being snarky because…well, she’s Carmilla.

Korra stood up from the bench and went to go talk to Asami. Whether or not the tension between Danny and Carmilla was due to their own personal bad moods, or some nasty fight, Korra didn’t know. Either way, Korra didn’t really want to get caught in the middle.

LaFontaine and Perry both looked extremely tired. Korra didn’t know if either of the pair knew Bolin very well, but Korra appreciated their presence regardless. Plus, they were a good buffer between herself and Asami.

 _Not that I_ need _a buffer,_ Korra reminded herself, _Nothing’s going on between us. We’re friends! Right?_

“Hey,” Korra said, quietly.

After Asami said nothing, LaFontaine filled the silence. “Hi. You okay?”

“Nervous, like everyone,” Korra said, a little uncomfortable with Asami’s silence, “You?”

“Same.”

More awkward silence. LaFontaine looked back at a half-asleep Perry, Korra looked at Asami, and Asami looked at the floor.

“So, uh,” Korra cleared her throat, “I was wondering. In the interest of trying to distract myself from waiting to hear about Bolin…did you guys find anything in my blood?”

LaFontaine opened their mouth, but paused just enough to allow Asami the time to jut in. When she didn’t, they sighed and explained to Korra that while her cells were extremely healthy, they didn’t look normal.

“Not _human?”_ Korra gaped, “What do you mean, I’m not _human_? _”_

“I didn’t say _you_ weren’t human,” LaFontaine raised their hands defensively, “Just, your blood cells aren’t. We could do tests on your muscle or bone cells, but I doubt you’d be up for a high-tech surgery with low-tech rental equipment from the student lab.”

Korra shook her head, concerned. “Not so much. But I still don’t understand. How could I have non-human cells and still be a human?”

“We don’t know yet. Although, we have a couple clues,” LaFontaine glanced back at Asami, but she was still staring intently at her expensive shoes. “We saw several similarities between your blood cells and large animal blood cells. Er, _mammal,_ cells? At the same time, strangely enough, your cells seemed apt for…change. Like, they were constantly morphing and at one point, I could’ve sworn I saw something sparkle. No, not sparkle, _glow.”_ Korra raised an eyebrow. “More curious than that – and, unfortunately, more concerning – was that we found several correlations within your blood to that of a hag named Kyoshi.”

“Shit,” Korra muttered under her breath.

“Yeah. We couldn’t find much more than that. One thing is for certain, though, is that you are definitely a doppleganger.”

“How can that be? My mom and I aren’t identical!”

“I think that the doppleganger effect only happens once the previous is dead? I don’t know, there are several theories out there. Another being that the gene skips a generation or two.”

“I don’t want a theory, I want facts!” Korra strained to keep her voice at a whisper, “What if this is related to the attack? What if someone is looking for _my_ blood, not Bolin’s?”

“Can we please not talk about Bolin’s blood?” Asami said quietly, taking a small step towards them, “I can’t get the image of him out of my head.”

“Oh, yes, sorry,” Korra mentally kicked herself, “I don’t like thinking about it, either.”

“Yeah.”

LaFontaine looked back and forth between the two and rolled their eyes. They slumped back against the wall in a huff, wedging into place next to a now completely asleep Perry.

“So, um,” Korra picked her fingernails, “How, uh, how’d you like the Ball?”

Asami looked at her and smiled sadly. Asami knew that Korra deeply cared about Asami, but that kind of made it worse. She felt horrible for having avoided Korra for so long – it’d been weeks since they’d last spoken. It didn’t help that she also felt horrible _not_ avoiding Korra; being around Korra and not thinking about kissing her would take some time, Asami realized. But, Asami thought, _Being friends with Korra is worth being miserable around her for a little bit._

Suddenly, Opal burst through the massive hospital doors.

“He’s going to be okay,” she called out, tearfully, “He’s going to be okay.”

Everyone cheered, waking up Perry.

“Wha? Wha…whaddid I miss?” She jerked awake, flinging herself forward and off the bench.

“Bolin’s okay, sleepyhead,” Lafontaine patted their drowsy partner on the back tenderly, “Now, let’s get you to bed.”

Korra smiled at Asami and motioned for them to join the others entering the hospital wing. Asami bit her lip; Korra was just so damn cute. This whole ‘getting over her’ thing was going to be harder than she thought. _If I can just get to the end of the school year,_ Asami decided, _Then, over summer, I won’t see her every day, and things will get easier._

Korra’s gaze transfixed onto Asami’s bitten lip. _Damn,_ Korra thought, _I’ve never seen her do that before, but I want her to do that again._

Korra held the door open for Asami, and Asami knew this was going to be the longest rest-of-the-semester-ever.

Until she stole a backwards glance at the tan-skinned girl over her shoulder and caught her looking directly at her behind.

 _Maybe, I won’t have to get over her,_ Asami let the thought flutter into her mind briefly. She made a point of swaying her hips dramatically on her way to Bolin’s bed.

***

“Oh, he’s asleep!” Laura hushed as they gathered around Bolin’s bed, “We should go, he needs his rest!”

“No…I’m awake…” Bolin mumbled, his eyes still closed, “Don’t…go.”

Opal sat in the chair next to him and held his hand, gently. “They’ll be back in the morning,” she glanced back at the group and received several enthusiastic nods, “They promise. They just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m….” Bolin had a small stream of drool spilling out of his mouth, “…unghhhh…”

The nurse walked over and placed a kind, wrinkled old hand on Mako’s shoulder. “He was very lucky to have such strong friends,” she cooed, “He’ll be alright. But, he’ll be sore for a few days, and will need at least a week to replenish his blood supply to a healthy level. You all go back to your houses and tell the good news to all those who are worried.”

Mako nodded staunchly and began making his way out, pausing to pay Danny a bumbling compliment.

“Oh, um, thanks, Mako,” Danny blushed. She’d never been called ‘ravishing’ before, but there’s a first for everything, right? “You look quite, er, dashing yourself.”

Mako turned on his heel and practically ran out of the room, leaving the rest of the group to roll their eyes and trudge along after him.

Opal kissed the Bolin’s forehead and squeezed his hand. “I’ll be back soon, lug.”

***

As the group made their way down the hall, Danny made her move. She grabbed Carmilla’s arm and yanked her into a nearby broom closet, shutting the door behind her. Danny had to refrain herself from pummeling the girl; with the effects of the anti-wolf potion still very much active, Danny knew that any fight between them would result in Danny spending the rest of the semester in the bed next to Bolin’s in the hospital wing. It was a rather small room, and their faces were practically touching.

“If you wanted to kiss me, all you had to do was ask, Big Red,” Carmilla said, without a hint of sincerity.

“Don’t try anything,” Danny warned, “I’m keeping a close watch on you.”

“And I you,” Carmilla responded coolly, “I wasn’t sure of your…situation before, but now that I know, I’ll be sure to – “

“Be more careful with your attacks?” Danny snapped.

“I didn’t attack him, dimwit,” Carmilla said, her voice and her eyelids simultaneously lowering, “I meant, I’m going to keep a closer watch on Laura. Does she know about you?”

Danny winced. “Does she know about you?”

“Does anybody know about you?”

“You ask me these questions and I want to know the same thing about you!”

Carmilla grunted. “So you’re a werewolf, huh? Since when?”

Danny clenched her fists and took a deep breath. “I’ll only answer these questions if you answer mine.”

“Fine. But let’s do it elsewhere, and at another time. I’d hate to be caught in this cupboard afterhours with you. I wouldn’t necessarily want to explain this to anyone who happened to walk by and hear us use words like ‘werewolf’ and ‘vampire’. Especially after tonight’s attack.”

Danny nodded, and twisted the doorknob. She pushed the dark-haired girl out of the closet, causing her to lose her balance.

Carmilla turned and bared her teeth. “Watch it, Red.”

“I still don’t trust you.”

“What’s it going to take for me to get you to believe me when I say that I didn’t attack Bolin?”

“A bit more than ‘Watch it, Red’!”

“Meet me in the east courtyard outside the castle walls just before dawn," Carmilla closed her eyes and forced herself to take a deep breath, "We can talk then." 

****

“So, now that that’s all taken care of,” Opal said, tiredly, “I’m going to crash and pretend that this never happened.”

Asami patted her on the back sympathetically. “I’m so relieved Bolin is okay.”

“Tell me about it. The nurse said she hadn’t had a patient lose that much blood since…” Opal gulped, “…since a vampire attack she witnessed in Ukraine.”

“What?” Asami flinched.

“Yeah, _vampires._ I didn’t know they actually existed, but I guess they’re as real as mermaids and dragons. You don’t think it was a vampire that attacked Bolin, do you?”

Asami frowned. “I don’t know what to think. I mean, I remember learning about vampires in a Magical Creatures class once, but I didn’t pay much attention.”

“What if there’s a vampire somewhere in the castle!” Opal hugged herself and shivered.

“You’re working yourself up,” Asami continued to gently scratch Opal’s back, “But, I have to admit, I’m a little creeped out, too.”

“There’s no way I’m getting any sleep tonight,” Opal slumped, “I’m exhausted, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to get any shut-eye with so much talk about vampires.”

“What do you say we sleep together tonight?” Asami walked over to her own bed and grabbed her pillow. “I’d sleep much better if I knew I wasn’t alone.”

“Oh, god yes,” Opal yawned, “Although I should clarify. When you say, ‘sleep together’, you mean…?”

Asami laughed. “I mean like, ‘we will both be snoring in less than an hour in the same bed’ sleeping.”

“That doesn’t exactly answer my question,” Opal wiggled her eyebrow.

“Stop that. I’ll be the big spoon this time.”

Opal giggled and nestled under the covers. Asami kicked off her shoes and slid in behind her.

“You know,” Opal said, already dozing off, “If you weren’t so goddamn in love with Korra, and if I wasn’t so goddamn in love with Bolin, I’d certainly be open to dating you.”

“I guess that answers the question of whether or not you are also into women,” Asami wrapped an arm around Opal’s waist and pulled her in close. “I must agree, though. You are a kickass snuggler.”

Opal turned over and kissed Asami’s thin nose. “Never use ‘kickass’ and ‘snuggler’ in the same sentence again.”

Both girls’ eyes were half-open, but Asami still found herself drawn to Opal’s lips. She still didn’t have any feelings for her – at least, nothing compared to what she felt for Korra – but it was like the simple fact that a beautiful woman was laying so closely next to her made her lips ache for contact.

Once Opal’s breathing slowed to a constant pace, Asami leaned in slightly and kissed Opal softly. Opal grinned devilishly and opened an eye.

“Couldn’t stay away, couldja?”

Asami blushed. “Sorry…I guess I just kinda, I don’t know, wanted physical contact?”

Opal chuckled. “How much physical contact do you want?” She opened both her eyes, but kept her lids dangerously low.

“I…uh…” Asami gulped, suddenly overwhelmed with a faint pulse between her legs. “I wasn’t planning on this but…I mean…”

Opal reached down and picked up Asami’s hand, guiding it painfully slowly onto her backside. A whimper escaped Asami’s slightly open mouth, simultaneously warning herself from going any further and urging Opal to go on.

“I’ve been wanting ‘physical contact’ as well,” Opal hummed, “Granted, not from you, but considering neither of us will be getting any of _anything_ for a while…”

Asami’s breath hitched. For only having kissed one person – and that one person being Opal herself – Opal was really good at this.

Asami’s hand finally rested on Opal’s behind. Asami squeezed gently, earning a quiet moan from Opal. It was too dark for Asami to see much of Opal’s face, but for some reason, that made it just a little more exciting. _Actually,_ Asami thought, guiltily, _That might make it easier to imagine it being Korra._

“If we’re going to do this,” Asami breathed into Opal’s ear, before trailing soft kisses down Opal’s neck and onto her collar bone, “I’m going to need you to keep moaning. Just…like…that…”

Opal shivered, obviously agreeing. She snaked a hand into Asami’s long, wavy black hair and intertwined her fingers. She brought her lips up to Asami’s mouth, but refrained about an inch away.

“I…I need to clarify…” Opal bit her lip, “When you said, ‘sleeping together’, you meant…”

“I meant, ‘only snuggling and falling asleep together’."

“So, not too far?” Opal looked up at Asami’s eyes. They were a deep green, just like Bolin’s.

“No. We can both save that for when we are _actually_ kissing our number one’s. Not when we’re pretending.”

Opal raised an eyebrow. “You…you’re pretending I’m…?”

Asami tensed and released her grip on Opal. “Oh, I thought…when you said…”

“I’m teasing. Although, since you’re a girl, and I can’t quite picture _all_ of Bolin with you,” Opal kicked a leg in between Asami’s and flipped her onto her back, “ _I_ might be into it just because you are so damn _hot.”_

Asami reached behind Opal’s head and pulled her down forcefully onto her. She wasn’t sure exactly what their agreement was, but for now, she didn’t care.

***

 _Animal qualities? Non-human blood?_ Korra stared into the fireplace. _What does that even mean?_

“Hey, Ko,” Laura yawned as she came down the stairs, “You’re up early this morning.”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“Me neither. That whole Bolin thing got me all riled up.”

“Yeah,” Korra said, unblinking, “That, too.”

“Is something else on your mind?” Laura tucked her slippers under herself as she sat on the couch next to her baggy-eyed, chocolate-haired friend.

“Something someone named LaFontaine told me last night,” Korra said, “They’re Asami’s friend. The two of them had done some tests on my blood and found some weird stuff in it.”

“Oh? What kind of weird?”

“Like, they said my blood didn’t look human. That kind of weird.”

“That is weird,” Laura frowned groggily, “You look pretty human to me.”

“Yeah, well you know what else looks human?” Korra squinted, “Vampires.”

Laura gasped. “You’re a vampire? I didn’t know those were real!”

“Me neither, until Mako brought it up last night. He said that the nurse hadn’t seen an attack with that much blood loss since a vampire attack.”

“Oh…” Laura rubbed her eyes, “So they think a vampire did it?”

Korra nodded. “Mako talked about it for a long time last night. He even brought up werewolves, which Danny seemed to believe in. She seemed pretty scared – we all did.”

“Sounds like a load of rubbish, if you ask me.”

“Really?” Korra turned, “You really think this was all just some crazy thing and we’re all just taking it way out of proportion?”

“Absolutely. I think a bunch of things could have happened last night. But Bolin’s okay, and Headmistress Katara will figure everything out anyways. You’ll see.”

Korra turned back to the fireplace and fiddled with her mug of tea.

“You don’t look too comforted,” Laura put a hand on Korra’s shoulder, “What’s on your mind?”

“What if…” Korra cocked her head, “What if…those non-human parts of my blood…I mean, LaF did say that my cells had ‘animal-like qualities-…what if…”

“Do you think you’re a vampire or a werewolf?” Laura shook her head and chuckled. “Korra, you’re talking crazy. You would know if you were either of those. And you would know if you were the one that attacked Bolin. Seriously, you’re taking this way too hard. Why don’t you and I go grab some breakfast and talk about the Ball over some hot cocoa and doughnuts?”

Korra smiled. Laura knew that doughnuts were her weakness. She nodded and pushed herself off of the couch. Laura was right; this was all just too much excitement for Korra, and Korra was probably over-analyzing everything.

Still, Korra just had a _feeling._ Something in her gut told her that her sudden discovery in her magical, doppleganger, non-human blood was related to Bolin’s attack last night. What their relation was, Korra couldn’t tell. Nevertheless, there was a connection, and Korra was determined to figure out what that was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry about the delay!! Been a crazy past few months. Because life. Good news is I have all summer to finish. Hope you enjoy!


	16. Let The Rising Action Begin!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Danny and Carmilla have a little chat. Buds bein' buds.  
> *Laura ships Korrasami  
> *Laura and Mako  
> *Asami and Korra TALK TO EACH OTHER finallyyyyy. Precious gay bbz  
> *PLOT DEVELOPMENT as to who attacked Bolin!: Who done it?!

“Okay, spill,” Danny shivered in the sharp chill of the early morning. She’d hesitantly agreed to meet Carmilla at the break of dawn to discuss their mutual ‘outing’s to each other as supernatural beings, but she wasn’t totally excited about having to converse with a _vampire,_ one-on-one, before most sane teenagers were even thinking about waking up.

“First off,” Carmilla said, impatiently, “Yes, I’m a vampire. Not by choice, obviously. I was attacked a few hundred years ago when I was very young and turned into what I am today by my Mother – not my real mother; she died during the attack, too – but the Mother I knew after death. She is very old, very powerful, very evil, and I kind of have to do whatever she says or…bad things happen. I don’t feed off of living humans; when I can, I go to blood banks, otherwise I hunt large animals. So I’m kind of like that Edward Cullen shitface except I don’t sparkle and I’m not a loser.”

“That last part I beg to disagree with, but whatever,” Danny chattered.

“Fine. I only sparkle for a select few, Firefox,” Carmilla winked, “And, unfortunately for you, you are not one of those special few.”

“Ugh, whatever. My turn,”Danny shifted her weight uncomfortably,  “I was bitten the summer before my third year, while I was on vacation with my family in Victoria. I hate being a wolf, so I learned how to make a certain potion that procrastinates when I turn, which is great except for when I actually do turn, it requires a lot longer time for me to turn back. Usually, I don’t drink it, and I just go out of town for a long weekend every month. Nobody knows except for you and my parents, who saw me get bitten and killed the wolf who bit me, which is the only reason why I’m still alive.”

Carmilla stood still, with a strange look on her face. Danny bit her lip, unable to read Carmilla’s expression.

“You hate it, don’t you?”

Danny wasn’t expecting the question. “Y-yes, of course I do.”

Carmllla nodded and sat on a nearby boulder. “I hate it, too.”

“Really?”

“Of course I do!” Carmilla snapped.

“I’m sorry,” Danny waved her arms in front of her in defense, “I, I didn’t know, sorry. Just, I don’t know, wasn’t expecting that.”

“Yeah, well,” Carmilla sighed, ““Immortality and super strength or speed mean nothing to me. I would much rather have lived a meaningful, human life filled with human emotions, and then... died peacefully and respectfully in the arms of someone I love.”

Danny nodded empathetically. “So, you can’t feel any emotion?”

Carmilla sighed. “I can feel some things. It’s more like, everything’s muted. Like, I live underwater, or have some kind of vice on my heart.”

“That’s awful.”

“That’s why I…” Carmilla looked away, embarrassed.

“That’s why you like Laura so much,” Danny sat down next to her, “She makes you feel things.”

Carmilla turned back, a saddened expression on her face. “I haven’t felt this way in a long time.”

“I feel the same way about Mako.”

Carmilla raised an eyebrow. “You too?”

“Well, not quite,” Danny’s leg bounced, “He, well, he doesn’t treat me like I’m some crazy brute. Sometimes, my emotions get _too_ strong. My body, too, ya know?. Maybe its’ exactly the opposite of what it is with you. Sometimes -- especially near the full moon -- I can’t really control myself.”

“Is this something I should warn Laura about?”

“No, no, not like that. When it hits, I go crazy, but not on a violent wolfy outrage. It depends on my mood. For a couple hours, I go crazy mad, crazy happy, crazy sad...crazy horny...whatever mood I happen to be in at the time.”

“So, how does this relate to broody McHothead?”

Danny kicked the ground and put her hands in her pockets, shyly. “Mako? Well, he’s seen me go crazy and it doesn’t really bother him. Every kind of crazy. And, he treats me like I’m just – “

“Normal?” Carmilla offered. Danny shook her head at the word.

“No, not normal. Just…I feel a different kind of special around him. Like, I don’t feel special because I’m unnaturally athletic or tall or fast or competitive or, er, crazy. I’m special because I’m Danny.”

Carmilla nodded, considering the thought. She had to agree, that was exactly how she felt around Laura.

“I guess that’s why neither of us want anyone to know?” Carmilla folded her arms, “So that they like us for who we are and not because we’re badass supernatural beings?”

Danny laughed. “Sounds about right.”

“Sounds like a horrible, teenage drama television show, if you ask me.”

“Shit, you’re right.”

They sat in silence, allowing the sun to rise higher and higher into the brisk morning sky. Several flocks of songbirds competed for attention, and a pair of unicorns flashed in and out of the edges of the Dark Forest.

Eventually, Danny nudged Carmilla’s arm and motioned back towards the castle. “Hey, I’m freezing. And hungry. Let’s get out of here.”

“Cold and hungry? Welcome to my life.”

Danny grimaced. “Okay, maybe let’s wait a while to start making jokes like that. I don’t really want to throw up my breakfast, now that we’re friends.”

“’Friends’ is pushing it, Jacob Black,” Carmilla strode forward, “You still smell pretty bad to me. Not as bad as when you were in wolf form, but it wouldn’t hurt you to shower.”

“You don’t smell too hot yourself, dead girl.”

“I smell fine, thank you very much. By the way, you should definitely think about telling Mako about that possible ‘crazy horny’ phase you’ve got locked up in there. I’m sure that’ll win him over quicker than you can say ‘werewolf hormones’.”

“Shut up, Sparkles.”

As the two girls strut up the hill towards the castle, a pair of greedy eyes shone from within the Dark Forest. The figure smiled coldly, before darting after them into the castle, anxious to hear more.

****

It took a few seconds for Asami to regain her boundaries as she woke up. As she drifted into consciousness, she didn’t recognize the mess of short, tousled hair in front of her. She realized her arm was wrapped tightly around another person, and she wasn’t in her own bed.

She blinked and tried to refocus on the dark hair in front of her. _Korra?_ She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and slowly picked her head off of the pillow. The figure next to her stirred and flipped over, revealing Opal’s face.

 _Oh, right,_ Asami sighed and drew her hand from Opal’s waist. Opal was still fast asleep, and Asami hoped to get out of the room long before she woke up again.

She wiggled herself free of Opal’s tangled limbs. She was a little embarrassed about the whole thing…it just didn’t seem quite right. _We should talk about this,_ Asami made a mental note, _Before things get actually weird._

She took a quick shower and threw on some clothes before sneaking out the door.

Everything about this morning felt strange; waking up to Opal being pressed up against her body, sneaking out of the common room before Opal woke up, dreaming about kissing Korra – okay, the fact that she was dreaming about Korra wasn’t weird -- but the part where Korra turned into a massive bear and Asami rode her like a horse? That was weird.

Anyway. It was an off day, Asami could already tell. Which was a bad thing, considering the previous night’s events.

 _Oh yeah,_ Asami groaned internally, _Last night._

As if the _dance_ part of the Ball wasn’t exhausting enough, the whole fiasco with Bolin set Asami’s nerves through the roof. It was like she was hungover this morning, but from an overdose of anxiety, rather than alcohol.

She wasn’t entirely comfortable with the fact that she and Opal had made out again last night, and then slept together afterwards. Like, that isn’t the thing normal friends do, right? Asami didn’t think of Opal as anything other than a friend or best friend, though she did think Opal was extremely attractive. So, what was going on? Why did they hook up again? _Is that what they call ‘friends with benefits’?_

Asami folded her arms and kicked a rock as she trudged towards the Dining Hall. She normally skipped breakfast, but she was actually pretty hungry this morning. Plus, Korra and the rest of the Gryffindor athletes were probably all up and going by now, too. It might be nice to eat with them. They hadn’t hung out in a while, Asami realized. Which, Asami also realized, was kind of her own fault. She’d been so caught up in distancing herself from Korra that she’d ended up drowning herself in nothing but politics and academics, and forgotten to stay in touch with _all_ of her friends. Opal and LaF were both great company, but Asami craved some healthy banter with her lion-hearted companions.

There was also that teeny tiny, microscopic, miniscule chance that if Korra _was_ checking her out at the hospital last night, then maybe...just maybe...Asami wouldn’t have to worry about “getting over” Korra as much as she would have to worry about how to “come out to and proceed to court” Korra.

Asami turned into the Dining Hall and smiled. Korra and Laura sat happily with their cheeks full of chocolate doughnut, and Mako sat across from them, trying to keep himself awake with a large bowl of oatmeal. Korra tried to have a drink of orange juice and ended up spilling all over her shirt, causing herself and Laura to erupt in a fit of laughter. Asami’s heart leapt at the sight. Korra’s smile could brighten even mornings as gloomy it was then.

*****************

Laura noticed Asami approaching before the other two did.

“Morning, Asami!” Laura chirped, “Sleep well?”

Korra looked up from cleaning off her orange-juice-soaked shirt and gulped. Asami tucked a strand of hair behind an ear and smiled shyly. “Mind if I join you?”

Korra fumbled with the orange napkin in her hand and scrambled to scoot her plates and cups aside, motioning for Asami to sit next to her.

Laura palmed her face. It was obvious to everyone in the world that these two were head over heels for each other. Everyone in the world, that was, except for the two themselves.

“Hey, so, erm, nice morning, isn’t it?” Korra sat up straight and put a clean napkin in her lap.

“Yes, quite,” Asami crossed her legs and poured herself a glass of milk.

“What are you _talking_ about?” Mako grunted, “It’s like, freezing outside. It’s grey and cloudy and awful.”

Korra slouched, embarrassed.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Asami shrugged, smiling sideways at Korra, “Sometimes, these rainy, overcast weekends are just the thing. They’re perfect for cuddling up against the fireplace and reading, with a warm mug of thick hot chocolate and holding your lover’s hand.”

Korra perked back up, and took a big bite of a muffin. “I agree! I love me a good cuddle sesh.”

Asami blushed as she spread some strawberry jam on a biscuit.

“Whatever,” Mako yawned, “I’m just glad to see you again, Asami. It’s been a while since we’ve talked or anything.”

Korra froze, glaring at Mako.

“Yeah! Sorry, I’ve been super busy with…uh, school, you know. Good to see you guys again, though!” Asami smiled sweetly in his direction.

Laura rolled her eyes. This was going at a snail’s pace.

“So, Asami,” Laura began, hoping to cut through the small talk, “Mako spent the morning pestering the hospital wing and they said that Bolin has been recovering very well.”

“Oh! That’s great news,” Asami said, relieved, “I was so worried about him all night. Opal and I, both.”

Korra frowned at the mention of Opal’s name. Laura took note.

“Yes, yes he’s much better. Tell Opal that her boyfriend –“ Korra let out a deep breath “—will probably be awake and chattering in less than a few hours.”

“Will do!” Asami rose her glass of milk and took a swig from it.

Laura nodded, but wasn’t quite satisfied. She wanted to see Korra making more of an effort to talk to Asami but obviously the poor girl needed some serious help.

“Great! Um, also,” Laura kicked Korra under the table, “Korra and I were talking about, you know, her blood, situation? And we were hoping, Korra and I, were hoping….” Laura kicked Korra again, “…that you could tell us more about that?”

Korra’s leg bounced visibly underneath the table. She wasn’t stupid, she knew that Laura was trying to get her to talk to Asami, but…how on earth was she supposed to think of what to say when Asami was sitting so _close_ to her?

“Yeah, um, my blood…” Korra stumbled over a mouthful of muffin, “What’s er, wrong with me?”

Asami giggled and twirled a strand of her hair, “Nothing’s wrong with you, Korra. Your blood is just, well, special.”

Laura had to refrain herself from vomiting the half dozen chocolate sprinkled doughnuts she just consumed. This was getting ridiculous. “So, how is it special?”

Asami was staring too hard at Korra’s side profile to notice that Laura was talking to her.

“Hey, Asami? Helloooo?”

Asami snapped out of her stupor and blushed furiously. “Er, sorry. What’d you say, Laura?”

“Oh, no big deal, I just was curious what you meant by ‘special’?”

“Well,” Asami cleared her throat and gave Laura all of her focus, which clearly was very hard for her to do, “It’s as LaF was talking about last night. Korra’s blood just has a lot of rare, if not totally unique, attributes. Some of the cells seemed to morph and shift shape, and some seemed to glow slightly. Even stranger than that was that they had very similar, if not almost identical, genetic coding to the hag Kyoshi’s.”

“You were able to get genetic information?” Korra asked. Laura could tell she was using every ounce of courage she had, but at least she was trying.

Asami responded beautifully. “Yes, actually. I didn’t tell LaF because I found that out a little after they’d left the lab.” Asami left out the part that she went back to the lab often to try to figure out Korra’s DNA without LaF knowing.

“You’re a genius,” Korra said a little distractedly. Laura wanted to excuse herself and let the two of them continue to break down whatever awkward distance barriers that had been going on, but she knew Mako wouldn’t get the hint to leave them alone if it was written to him in a letter. He was half asleep in his untouched bowl of oatmeal, anyways.

“Ha ha, no, I’m not a genius,” Asami giggled and shifted in her seat, “I was just really curious! Your blood is very, er, fascinating.”

“Yeah? You think so?” Korra leaned closer to Asami. Laura couldn’t believe her eyes. Was this really happening?

“Yeah, I do,” Asami bit her lip and flipped her hair over shoulder, “Do you, er, want me to show you the results some time?”

“Yes!” Korra blurted out, with perhaps a little too much gusto, “I mean, yeah, sure, that’d be great.”

Asami laughed again. “Great!” She turned back to her now empty glass of milk and Laura could tell that she was trying to repress a smile. Laura looked at Korra with a look that read “What the hell just happened?” and Korra responded by shrugging her shoulders and grinning from ear to ear. Korra’s nerves suddenly all flew away, as if it was silly that they were there in the first place. She cleared her throat and scooted even closer to Asami.

“Hey, Mako,” Laura nudged Mako in the arm, waking him up, “I think you and I should go tell Opal the good news about Bolin. I think Asami’s still kind of hungry and might be a while.” She winked at Korra, who gave her a

“Unh? Yeah, yeah sure,” Mako took a final slug from his mug of coffee and rolled off of the bench.

“We’ll meet you guys at the hospital!” Laura waved at the two blushing women at the breakfast table and wrapped an arm around her tall, dark, dozing friend, ushering him out of the room.

“I thought they weren’t speaking to each other?” Mako grumbled, still half-asleep.

“I did too. But I’m glad that’s not the case anymore!” Laura chirped, stealing a glance over her shoulder, “Wait, I thought you were asleep?”

“Korra and I talked a little bit last night, at the dance,” Mako yawned again, leaning into Laura’s tiny shoulder, “And I was pretty much asleep, for most of it. But I kind of didn’t want to leave, it was kind of cute how awkward they were.”

Laura slapped his hand and laughed. “That’s like, breaking the rules of wingman-ing! Remind me to never bring you as my wingman anywhere ever, or you’ll cockblock all my prospects.”

“It’s not cockblocking if they think you’re asleep!”

_******************_

It took a while for either Korra or Asami to build up the courage to speak to each other after Laura left. They sat in the silence for a few minutes, simply enjoying the butterflies that fluttered about their stomachs, hoping that the other would start talking first.

“Are you, uh, are you going to finish that?” Korra pointed at Asami’s half-eaten sausage and smiled crookedly.

“Nope! All yours,” Asami pushed her plate in Korra’s direction. “I’m actually not a fan of sausage, I just eat it for the protein.”

Korra halted midway through bringing the sausage up to her mouth and put it back on her plate. “Oh, phew, I hate sausage too!”

“Well then why’d you ask if you could finish it?”

“I didn’t! I wanted to see if you were going to finish it, so we could take a walk!” Korra laughed, “But then you offered it and I didn’t want to be rude so I don’t know I thought I had to eat it!”

Asami broke out laughing. “You could’ve just asked if you wanted to go for a walk!”

“Well, I don’t know, I was enjoying sitting with you too!” Korra blushed as soon as the words escaped her mouth.

Asami smiled. “I was, too.” She put a hesitant hand on Korra’s thigh, causing both women to swallow and inhale sharply.

“Er, where did you want to walk?” Asami cleared her throat again.

“Oh, I don’t know, actually,” Korra swung her legs over the bench and stood up excitedly, “I was hoping you had somewhere important to be, or something science-y to do and I could follow you.”

“Well, we could go check out your lab results,” Asami suggested, taking Korra’s offered hand as she stood up from the bench, “You, did want to see those, right?”

“Yeah! Yeah for sure!” Korra held onto Asami’s hand for a little longer than intended, but it didn’t seem like Asami minded.

They walked wordlessly for a few minutes, until Asami’s curiosity got the best of her.

“So, I was meaning to ask...do you like Mako?”

“What? Of course I do,” Korra looked at Asami with a frown. “Why, does he think I’m mad at him? That big, whiney, son of a –”

“No, no, I mean like, do you _like_ him?”

“Oh! Ha! No!” Korra barked, “No, not at all! I mean I love him like a brother, but no. Why do you ask?”

Asami’s heart pounded against her relieved chest. Maybe this was real. Maybe Korra _was_ checking her out last night. Maybe that _was_ flirting in the dining hall just then. Maybe…

“Oh, you know, just curious!” Asami readjusted her top and flattened out her skirt, “I mean, I am your best friend, right?”

Korra seemed to deflate a little. “Yeah…’best friend’…”

Asami’s heartbeat raced even faster. Was that…disappointment? She knew that face all too well. Was Korra _disappointed_ that Asami just called her a “best friend”?

“Plus, you guys did go to the Ball together, so—”

“Oh, okay no that was only a friend thing,” Korra waved her hands in front of her like she was swatting at a large insect, “We went as friends and as friends only. We made sure to establish that from the beginning.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. He couldn’t go with who he really wanted to go with so he just asked me and I said sure.”

Asami was liking how this conversation was turning out more and more. “Okay, so I have another question for you now.”

“Shoot!”

“Do you _like_ anyone?”

Korra smiled and laughed. “What, are we back in first year again?”

“Oh come on, I have a right to know!”

Korra shrugged and ran a hand through her hair.

 _God,_ Asami bit her lip, _She looks good when she does that._

“So, you _do_ like-like someone, huh!” Asami nudged her with her elbow, “Come on, tell me!”

“Maybe it’s none of your business!”

“Yeah-huh it’s my business! I’ve known you since you were first admitted to this crazy school!”

Korra laughed again, her smile fading a little again. “Yeah, you have, haven’t you?”

“Yep. Attached at the hip ever since you practically pummeled me in the hallway that one time.”

“That _one_ time? More like, the _first_ time. I feel like I ran into you in the hallway at least once a week back then!”

“Couldn’t get away from me, couldja?” Asami winked, testing the waters.

“…guess not,” Korra frowned and looked back at the ground.

Asami knew that something was up with Korra, but she couldn’t help but hope that whatever was bothering Korra had something to do with Asami.

“It’s, er, nice to talk to you again,” Asami restarted, “I’m sorry, uh, I haven’t been around much.”

Korra smiled at her again. “No worries! I’m sure you just had a lot going on, right?”

“Yeah,” Asami’s palms sweat a little bit, “Yeah I was. But also, I was kind of nervous about –“

“Hey, you two hotties!” Opal bounded around the corner and skipped up to them, “I just talked to Mako and Laura. _So_ good to hear that Bo’s okay, right? Will I be seeing you guys at the hospital before lunch?”

Asami nodded. “Yep! We’ll be there. I just wanted to show Korra some things in the lab before we headed up there.” She bit her lip and tilted her head in Korra’s direction, silently messaging Opal to let them get on with their walk-and-talk.

“Oh! Uh, good!” Opal nodded understandingly, but a smug grin grew on her face, “Although Korra, I have to warn you…be careful around this one. She’s good with her hands…she might try to probe you if you don’t keep a close eye on her.”

“Oh, I, uh,” Asami blubbered a response, completely flustered, “She means that I, um, might take samples…”

“I’ll see you two little cuties at the hospital in a few, yeah?” Opal winked and skipped back down the hall, leaving a very embarrassed Asami to deal with a very coy-looking Korra.

“So,” Korra smirked, “All these questions about me ‘like-liking’ someone, but really, it’s _you_ who’s been doing the ‘probing’ recently, hasn’t it?”

Asami shook her head.

“All right, spill. Who is it?” Korra crossed her arms, “Do _you_ like Mako? Is that why you wanted to know? You know if you really wanted to get back with him, I’m sure he’d be up for going on a date or two. But I have to be honest, I don’t think he thinks of you like that –“

“No, no it’s not Mako,” Asami rolled her eyes and took a mental note of strangling Opal later.

“Wait, so then there is an ‘it’ then yeah?” Korra smiled victoriously, “You _do_ like someone! Who is it?”

“Oh, no you don’t. You first.”

“Not a chance!”

“Fine. We’ll just have to settle this by guessing, then.”

“Deal. Is it…Wu?”

“Okay maybe guessing wasn’t the greatest idea.”

“WU?! YOU LIKE WU?!”

“Shhh!! No!”

“Okay then, who?!”

Asami sighed, allowing herself to imagine what it would be like if she actually told Korra that she l…liked her, and then for Korra to leap into her arms, and then they run off together into the sunset, and….

“It’s…I won’t tell you.”

“Gahh!” Korra threw her hands into the air, “You are by far the most frustratingly incredible girl I’ve ever met!”

Asami blinked and looked at Korra, who was now blushing.

“I, I mean, you’re the most incredibly frustrating girl I’ve ever met,” Korra rubbed the back of her beck with one hand and shoved her other hand into her back pocket. “Although, I don’t mean like, you’re not incredible, too! ‘Cuz you are! You are totally incredible, I just –“

“You’re frustratingly incredible, too,” Asami winked, before opening the door to the little room holding her and LaF’s equipment and notes. Korra’s blush deepened, and she ducked her head a little before entering the door Asami held open for her.

*****************

Everything was a blur. People, things, smells, sounds; there was too much, and Kuvira was having a hard time keeping track of everything.

Simultaneously, however, it was like time ran much more slowly. Kuvira’s mind was able to race a million miles ahead of her surroundings, but her heart kept a constant, dreary, lagging pace. She walked from class to class in a daze, trying to both avoid getting nauseated from all the chaos that was constantly bombarding her senses, and at the same time, restrain herself from launching at the nearest first-years and ripping their throats out.

 _Is this what it’s like?_ Kuvira thought, _Is this_ always _what it’s like? To be a…to be…_

Kuvira couldn’t bring herself to say the word. She had agreed to it, the change. She had voluntarily given herself over to the Dean to be turned, but it had been a whole week now, and she was still…well…

 _Dead._ She gulped as she mentally mouthed the word. _I’m dead._

Everything she once thought meant so much suddenly meant nothing anymore. Her classes, her grades, her so-called “friends”, the remainder of her even more so-called “family”…all meant little to Kuvira. All that mattered now was power. Survival, and _power._ Her newborn hunger for power and strength intermixed with her overwhelming craving for blood into a dangerous combination of wanting. _Needing._ It was as if her primal need to eat, or, drink blood, was equal in necessity to her psychological need to dominate, rule, _kill._

A lanky fourth year walked by her with his face thoroughly entrenched in a rather large book. He smelled hugely of hormones and angst, which Kuvira found both disgusting and amusing, considering she now knew exactly what the stench of “angst” smelled like.

Another fourth year – this one, a more hormonally-controlled Ravenclaw female – tripped directly in front of her and skimmed her knee. Kuvira froze in her tracks. A small bead of blood oozed from a fresh opening in the female’s knee, and Kuvira could physically _sense_ it. Her pupils dilated, the muscles in her face tensed, her neck pulsed. Some of the fourth year’s friends rushed to her side and helped her get up, dusting her off and picking up her books. Some other fourth years pointed and laughed awkwardly, as fourth years do.

Kuvira heard their laughter and shook her head, trying to blink away the overpowering scent of the little female’s blood now trickling down her shin.

Kuvira bolted down the rest of the hallway and pushed her way into the nearest bathroom. She opened up the first toilet stall available and locked herself into it, staring deeply down the off-white porcelain of the bowl. She was supposed to meet Will a few minutes ago, but at the moment she wasn’t sure if she was able to leave her stall without attacking the next unlucky student to cross her path. Plus, she wasn’t sure if she really wanted Will to find out that she was…turned.

He had no idea of her plans on becoming, well, like him. She and the Dean had discussed it alone. They’d planned alone, negotiated alone, done everything without him knowing, and purposefully so; Will, though he acted callous and indifferent, was actually something of a soft-hearted buffoon, and both Kuvira and the Dean planned on keeping him out of the loop until after everything had been said and done.

 _Which was a fine plan_ , Kuvira thought, _Until I went ahead and started getting a schoolgirl crush on both he and his f***ing sister._

Why was she so stupid?! Kuvira slammed her fist into the wall behind the toilet, creating a massive hole in the stone.

“Woah! Is someone in there?” A female voice called from outside the stall, turning off a sink, “Everything okay?”

Kuvira squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself not to imagine what the girl’s throat would taste like. “I’m fine. Just...tired.” _That’s what humans say, right?_ Kuvira thought. She was only human just a few days ago, but she still found herself overanalyzing everything she said, in case she accidentally said something that might hint that she was a v…that she wasn’t human.

The girl scuttled out of the bathroom, obviously uncomfortable with whatever was going on behind the stall doors. Kuvira sighed and relaxed her fists.

Now she knew why Carmilla was always so uptight in the Slytherin common room; being around so many delectable humans all the time – and _not_ killing them – was exhausting!

Her eyes stayed squeezed tightly shut. She wanted to cry, but tears were somehow lost to her. She felt them; she felt lots of emotion. But her emotions felt like they were under lock and key. Like, there was a cage around her heart, now buried deep within some stone tomb somewhere in her body, and she didn’t know how to get to it.

Outside the bathroom, Kuvira heard a rushed pair of familiar foot steps. _William._

Her barely existing pulse rate increased by half a beat and she quickly checked herself in the mirror. She was considerably more pale than she used to be, but her hair shone much brighter, her teeth were much whiter, and her eyes were much sharper. She knew Will could smell her by now, because she could smell him.

 _And damn, does he smell good,_ she thought to herself. _What do I tell him? I should have thought of this before!_

She rolled her eyes and grabbed the counter. A few chunks of marble crumbled off of it as she dug her nails into the surface. _No, no I did think of this before. What I should have done, was_ not _get close to him in the first place. If I didn’t let him attach himself to me…and if I didn’t like it when he was around…_

Kuvira took a deep breath and fixed her outfit. _No. I will not allow this courtship to continue until after the plan. Then, maybe. But for now, I will avoid him, so that he does not ask questions or interfere._

Kuvira knew where he was waiting before she even left the bathroom. She stepped outside the room and saw him across the hall, leaning against the stone wall, glaring into her staunchly dark eyes.

“Who did this to you,” he said.

“What are you talking about?” Kuvira replied coolly.

Will bit his lip and pushed himself off of the wall, obviously using every bit of strength in his extremely well-toned body to refrain himself from screaming. “Who turned you, Kuvira?”

“That’s none of you –“

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because, I didn’t want you to –“

“ _Why_ are you a vampire now?”

Kuvira looked around nervously, but tried to keep her face calm. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, I just –“

“Then _why the fuck_ did you attack Bolin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy:)


	17. Korrasami (Finally) Sets Sail, Hollstein Hits Some Rocks, and Also the Plot Thickens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Mako and Laura chat on the way to see Bolin in the hospital  
> *Asami shows Korra some ~thangs~ in the lab  
> *hey ps. about all that science-y stuff they get into....umm...thats why I'm majoring in the arts lol just use your imagination ~rainbows~  
> *LaF runs into someone?  
> *Carmilla fesses up  
> *ANGST gahhhhh rising action is so much harder than oneshots or like, fluffy blabberings

Laura half-hugged, half-dragged Mako to the hospital wing. It was still _technically_ morning, but close enough to noon that Laura thought Mako was being completely melodramatic with his moody, “it’s too early for this” gig.

“I don’t think I can carry you all the way there, Mako,” Laura huffed, “We’ve still got two more flights of stairs to go and my arms are giving out.”

“Sorry, Lo,” Mako grumbled, before yawning and rubbing his eyes, “I’m not normally this tired this late in the day. I was just up pretty late last night, watching my brother.”

“You stayed with him in the hospital?”

Mako shrugged. “Not exactly. I checked in on him periodically. He woke up from a bad dream around four thirty so I stuck with him then for a while, but other than that I just came down every hour.”

Laura’s face softened. “You’re sweet to check on him, but you know he was in good hands, right?”

“Yeah,” Mako yawned again, “Yeah, I know. But, I don't know, he seemed kind of...off. And I wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyways. What I really wanted to do was to go out looking for whoever did that to him, but I know I wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere without some clues or something.”

“Does anyone know who it was?”

Mako frowned. “If they do, they haven’t told me. I’m kind of thinking that some people know more than they’re letting on, and I kind of want to do a little investigating. I can’t rest knowing that there’s someone in the castle attacking students – especially when my brother is, apparently, on their hit list.”

“I can’t either,” Laura shoved her hands in her pockets, “But who do we talk to first? We can’t go around just asking anybody anything, or else our suspects will disappear from us.”

“I don’t know,” Mako rubbed his temples, “Maybe we should wait a while, though, before we jump into any major investigations. I’d like a nap after we talk to Bolin."

“Do you have enough energy to talk more about Korra and Asami?? I’m super excited to hear about what happens after breakfast! You think they’re finally going to kiss and make up?”

Mako rolled his eyes. “I don’t think it’ll be that easy.”

“Why not! They’re both _totally_ into each other, and you know it!”

“Yeah, but neither of them are, like,” Mako bobbed his head back and forth, “You know, _out_?”

“Who cares!”

“Laura, has Korra ever told you that she likes girls?”

Laura paused, thinking. “Does that matter?”

“I think so, right? Plus, I dated Asami for a little while back in the day. Maybe Korra assumes that Asami isn’t into girls for that reason. Or, maybe Asami thinks that Korra isn’t into girls because _she never talks about it,_ yeah?”

“I see your point. But they are best friends, maybe they talk about that kind of stuff with each other?”

“I’m not so sure. I feel like both women have intense needs to be, like, perfect or something, and maybe being gay isn’t exactly easy for them to think about.”

“I’m gay! Carmilla’s gay, and I think she’s perfect.” Mako rolled his eyes and faked a gagging motion. “Sorry, sorry I’ll admit that was a little sappy. But maybe you’re right, in which case, I should be there for Korra to talk about this kind of stuff, right?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Deal. Okay but really though, Carmilla is perfect.”

Mako laughed once, loudly. “Danny begs to differ.”

“I’ve noticed they have some sort of tension going on, too. Do you know what’s up?”

Mako shook his head, suddenly embarrassed. “Nope. Danny and I haven’t had a good conversation in a while, so…”

“Really? I thought you two were bros.”

They jogged up the last set of stairs and rounded the corner, finally facing the hospital wing.

“Yeah, we are,” Mako shoved his hands in his pockets, “But also…she’s kind of too hot to be a bro, anymore.”

Laura clapped a hand over her mouth and skipped a few feet. “I knew it! I knew there was something going on between you two! Although don’t ever say that someone is ‘too hot to be a bro’ again, because that implies that either you and I are not bros, or that I am not hot and you are a dick.”

Mako laughed awkwardly, “Yeah, yeah okay fine sorry. But I don’t know, she’s just so cool, too. Like, and totally normal. But I can’t ask her out! That would be weird.”

“Stop right there. Nothing is too weird for Hogwarts,” Laura looped her arm through Mako’s and tugged him along, “Now, let’s go talk to your brother in the hospital wing, where said Danny will probably be waiting, and I’ll help you two hook up just like I helped Korra and Asami this morning. Kapeesh?”

Mako grunted his non-objection, and Laura let out a squeal of approval. They burst through the heavy, wooden doors to find Bolin sitting up bolt right in his bed, with wide eyes and shaking hands.

“Did you guys catch her??” Bolin asked, in a small, scared, raspy voice, “Did you guys catch the vampire?”

Mako and Laura looked at each other, stunned. Opal sat next to Bolin with an equally shocked expression.

“What did you say, bro?” Mako inched over to his shivering brother, “What about a vampire?”

“Did you catch her?! The one who attacked me??” Bolin’s face was as pale as ice, and the bandages on his neck made him look frail and timid.

Opal slid her hand around one of Bolin’s and tried to soothe him, but it was clear that whatever had happened to him had seriously shaken him up.

“Bo,” Laura whispered softly, “Are you sure it was a vampire? Are you sure you didn’t just slip and fall, or accidentally cut yourself? You've never been the greatest with sharp objects...”

Bolin’s face scrunched up as he frowned and searched his memory. “No, no Lo I’m positive it was a person, and that person bit my neck, and sucked my blood until I went unconscious.” Mako and Laura held both gulped audibly, and Opal slumped in her chair. “With fangs. She had fangs.”

“Okay, okay Bolin, we believe you,” Opal patted his hand gently, coaxing him out of his panic, “Do you know what she looked like? Who she was?”

Bolin shook his head. “Dark hair, pale skin, fangs. All I remember. Except, I do remember recognizing her face…if I could just see her again, I know I could…”

At that moment, Danny and Carmilla entered the room. Bolin’s eyes widened and his pulse quickened. “Her! That’s her! That’s the vampire – it’s Carmilla!”

_******************_

Half of the lab was a chaos of clutter, and half of the lab was meticulously tidy and organized. Korra chuckled to herself as she could only guess which side of the lab was LaF’s, and which side was Asami’s. She immediately walked over to the neater side and leaned over to flick on the lamp.

“So,” Asami cleared her throat, “Welcome to my miniature, temporary work space and living room of the past few days.”

“This is so cool!” Korra tapped one of the many metal contraptions in the room, “Do you know how to use all of this stuff?”

“Well, yeah,” Asami shrugged, “I designed half of these things, and the other half I’ve been working with since I was a third year.”

Korra shook her head in disbelief. “You’re a genius, you know that?”

“Nah, I just like building things,” Asami walked over to her desk and sat down, flipping through some notes, “I much prefer building things that move, like cars and things, but microscopes and scanners are always useful, too.”

“What’s your favorite invention so far?” Korra leaned up against the table, trying to look as suave as possible.

Asami smiled shyly. “Someday, I hope to invent a flying car that runs only on solar power. It’s been a dream of mine for years now. There’s still a long way to go until then, but still…a girl can dream, right?”

“Right,” Korra nodded, completely in awe, “Let me know when you invent it. I’d love to fly with you someday…maybe I’ll ride my broom alongside you and we can race!”

“For sure!” Asami looked up from her notes with a wicked grin, “Although, I’m not sure you could keep up with me. Even if my car was on the ground.”

Korra gaped. _Damn._ “You can’t be serious. I hate to brag, but I would _smoke_ you.”

Asami laughed and raised an eyebrow, before pulling a folder out of the pile on her desk and walking over to where Korra stood. “Keep telling yourself that, Korra. Just don’t be too upset when I lap you.”

“Oh, you’re so on.”

“Fine! We can race first thing when we get back home in the summer.”

“Deal. Now, show me what’s in the folder?”

Asami slid next to Korra and kicked herself up onto the table. Korra’s palms began to sweat, as Asami’s perfume wafted into her nostrils. It was a really nice perfume. Korra’s mind drifted slightly, thinking about how nice it would be to smell it up close…with Korra’s face in her neck, kissing it softly…

“So, this is your genome,” Asami opened the folder and flipped to a page that had been marked by a paperclip. Korra shook her head and tried to focus on the tiny letters and numbers that covered the page. “And these are some photos of what your red blood cells look like.”

Korra squinted at the black and white images. Some had higher resolution than others, and some seemed more zoomed in, but they all just looked like spotted blobs to Korra.

“Um, cool,” Korra tried really hard to sound impressed, but Asami could tell that she had no idea what she was looking at.

“Maybe it’ll help if I show you some pictures of my own blood, just to compare and contrast.”

“You used your own blood?” Korra asked.

“Yeah,” Asami pulled out a few more black and white photos from in the back of the folder, “I was really confused too, when I first saw your blood through the microscope, so I took some of my own samples and ran the same tests so I could see if there were any differences between my blood and yours, and not just the textbooks I’ve been using.”

“So, were there any differences?”

Asami handed the photos of her own blood cells to Korra. “You tell me.”

Korra placed Asami’s photos next to her own and gasped. Next to Asami’s, Korra’s blood cells seemed…to _glow._ Even in the flat, black and white image, Korra could see a difference in the ways the walls around her cells were shaped. It looked like they were moving, _changing._

“Woah,” Korra looked at Asami with her mouth hanging wide open, “It’s like my blood cells are, like, changing!”

“Exactly. When we looked at the fresh samples under the scope, it was even more obvious. Your cells were constantly morphing, shifting…and, maybe you could see here, they were _glowing._ LaF and I both kind of freaked out when we first saw it, because neither of us had seen anything like it before.”

Korra frowned. “So…why me? Why is my blood so special?”

Asami shook her head. “I’m not so sure. But I do have a few ideas.” She walked back over to the table and flipped open several folders and textbooks. She waved for Korra to join her, pointing at some other pictures.

“This, here, is all data from the hag Kyoshi. Some creep had recognized her dead body and was crazy enough to take some hair, tissue, and blood samples.” Korra’s face contorted, but Asami continued. “I know, it’s gross, but I databased some of the samples he got and ran them next to yours and…well…” Asami licked her lips, “They’re almost exactly the same as yours.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know your genome?” Korra nodded. “Well, so, I checked your genetic coding with Kyoshi’s, and they’re basically identical. Which only happens between twins, or,” Asami’s eyes shone, “Between dopplegangers.”

“Right, well, we’ve already established that I’m a doppleganger. But why does my blood glow, then?”

Asami smiled and frantically flipped through several more clips of notes. “Kyoshi was a hag, right? Hags are classified as ‘beings’ in the wizarding world, along with vampires and such. So, I did some research as to what else qualifies as a ‘being’, and I got some interesting questions.”

“What kinds of questions? Because right now I think I have so many that my mind is shutting down.”

“Stay with me. I started wondering _why_ Kyoshi, a hag, a magic-possessing being, would also be a doppleganger, which is technically another kind of supernatural phenomenon. Because that is kind of a major coincidence, right? I mean, what are the odds that something as rare as a doppleganger also happens to be something as uncommon as a hag?”

“Okay…I still don’t see what this has to do with me.”

“Well, have you ever wondered if _you_ are also something uncommon? Like, maybe not a hag, considering you don’t fancy eating children…but, what if something _else_ rare and magical is in your blood?”

Korra thought for a moment. “Is that why my blood glows?”

Asami pointed back at the page of Korra’s genome. “I rechecked your genetic coding and found something interesting. You and Kyoshi have _almost_ identical genes; strangely enough, I discovered this rather quickly because both of you have two extra sets of codes. Four whole extra letters of genetic material. Which is _also_ not only rare, but basically, unhuman. Of those four lines of sequencing, only two of them matched up with each other. Which means, that you have four extra lines of genetic informational material than the rest of humankind, and half of them are completely unique to your dopplegangers.”

Korra’s mind was spinning around her head. “I…I am unique to all of humankind?”

“Yes!” Asami bounced up and down in her heels, “Exactly! You are a totally unique individual with probably extremely rare magical capabilities.”

“So…I _am_ a doppleganger, I’m _not_ a hag, but I am _probably also_ something else cool and magical entirely.”

“Bingo.”

“Alright, what am I then? What are my possibilities?”

Asami sighed. “ _That_ is exactly where I’m stumped, too. Because you don’t fit the bill for a hag – or we’d have known by know – but then again, we really don’t know much of anything at this point, and perhaps we could be wrong about this too.”

“Ugh!” Korra slammed a fist onto the table, “Science is so frustrating!”

Asami laughed and put a hand on Korra’s shoulder. Korra froze at the contact, but dared not move for fear of Asami moving her hand away.

“Welcome to my entire life,” Asami said, with both sarcasm and playfulness, “But, does this at least help you see kind of where LaF and I are going with all of this?”

“Yeah, yeah thank you,” Korra stood up slowly, thankful that Asami left her hand on her shoulder, “You’ve been so awesome to do this for me. Thank you.”

“My pleasure!” Asami smiled excitedly at the beautiful woman next to her. “I’ve enjoyed it. Hopefully, we figure out what you are sooner rather than later.”

Korra let out a deep breath. “If you could figure out the rest of my life for me on top of that, that would be great.” She looked into Asami’s deep, shimmering green eyes and smiled softly.

“Mkay,” Asami slid her hand down Korra’s arm and took a half-step closer to her, “What about…you graduate from Hogwarts, play Quidditch professionally, travel the world, autograph people’s asses, make lots of friends, meet lots of hot guys…”

Korra looked down at the mention of ‘hot guys’. “Hot guys? I dunno, I’m not so sure I’m quite the charmer. I’ve never really been good with the ‘guys’.”

Asami’s heart bounced. “I think you’re quite the charmer. Maybe you should skip the whole ‘guys’ thing and stick with me.”

Korra’s bright blue eyes flickered back up to Asami’s bright green ones. _Did she really just say that? Does she mean what I think she means? Do I respond flirtatiously, or would that ruin whatever we have going on?_

Korra swallowed hard. “I’d, er, be okay with that. Maybe you could travel with me? You know, if I go professional.”

“Oh, you’ll go professional, don’t you worry about that!” Asami let her hand dangle around Korra’s fingertips, “You’ve already got plenty of offers…maybe you should start…thinking about them.”

Asami brought her feet together so that the two women were standing less than a foot apart, directly facing each other.

“Oh, I’m thinking about them,” Korra muttered under her breath. She knew Asami had heard her, because she saw Asami’s eyes briefly dart down to her lips. Korra couldn’t help herself from doing the same; Asami’s eyes were entrancing, but her lips were _taunting._ They were so full, so red, so…

“Hey guys!” LaF burst through the door, startling both women into jumping a foot back from each other. “Ohhhhh, uh, sorry to interrupt, I was just dropping by to clean up my side of the room before Korra came by but I see that everything looks in order and I’m uh, I’m just going to go meet Laura in the hospital wing now.”

“We’re right behind you! Tell them all we’ll be right there,” Asami ran a hand through her hair and began tidying up her notes again.

Korra, who now had a deeper blush than she’d ever had in her entire life, waved as LaF fled the room. She shifted to the tips of her toes and let out a big sigh.

“So, er, do you need any help?”

“I’m good, just let me put these away,” Asami shoved the folders into one of the drawers in the desk and turned off the lamp. “There! Done. Shall we get off?”

A rush of blood fell into Korra’s lower body. Asami’s pupils dilated and she scrambled to fix her statement. “Er, _be_ off, shall we, you know, be off…let’s just go.”

Korra nodded frantically and they both raced out of the room. She gnawed on the inside of her cheek and forced herself to try and think about anything other than pinning Asami up against the nearest wall. She groaned internally. _If there was any doubt before, there is none now,_ Korra thought, woefully, _I like girls, and I have a fat crush on Asami Sato._

 _****************************************_

LaF rolled their eyes and shook their head as they walked away. _I mean, I’m glad for those two, honestly,_ they thought, _But god, they can be so bloody awkward sometimes it kills me._

“Hello there, Ms. LaFontaine,” a slimy voice rasped out from behind them, “Doing a little more studying before the rush of term?”

LaFontaine shuddered at both the voice and the misuse of their pronoun. They turned around and met immediate eye contact with Professor Karnstein.

“Well? Do you mind enlightening me on what you were so aptly studying?”

LaFontaine forced a smile. “Oh, just some more work on cells and abnormalities. You know how much I love anomalies, ha ha…”

Professor Karnstein didn’t even blink. She inched closer to LaF. “What, _exactly,_ were you looking at?”

“Well, uh,” LaFontaine’s palms began to sweat. Why was Prof. Karnstein talking to them so intently? Let alone, _at all?_ LaF couldn’t remember the last time she’d spoken to them. “You see, I was, uh, doing some comparisons between random samples.”

“ _Random_ samples?”

“Er, yeah, mostly.”

“Miss LaFontaine, there is no such thing as a _mostly_ random sample. It is either random, or it is not.”

“Right, yeah…”

“So, is it or is it not?”

LaFontaine gulped. The professor’s face was extremely near their own, at this point. “Is what?”

Professor Karnstein’s nostrils flared, but their eyes remained taught. “Miss Susan LaFontaine. I am asking you about your sampling techniques because I do not think that specifically using Korra’s blood would count as ‘random’. Do you?”

LaFontaine froze. _How did she know I was using Korra’s blood?”_

A faint smile ghosted across the professor’s gaunt face. “If you are really interested in finding out more about Korra’s blood, you should only have asked me for help.”

“R…really?” LaFontaine reached into the biggest flap of their handbag slowly, and began tearing small bits of paper off of their packet of notes.

“Yes. In fact, why don’t you come with me, and we can go into my own personal lab. I can show you some of the things I’ve discovered upon researching Korra’s blood, myself.”

“O…okay…” LaFontaine didn’t have much of a choice. Professor Karnstein had wrapped a bony arm around their shoulders and had proceeded to escort them in the opposite direction of the hospital.

LaFontaine pinched off a few of the pieces of paper they’d torn in their handbag and quickly dropped them onto the floor behind them. They weren’t sure what the professor was planning on showing them, or why she was suddenly so interested in them, but they had a sickening feeling in their stomach that the professor’s sudden and anxious interest in them was ill-fated.

_*********************************_

Everyone stared at Carmilla, Carmilla stared at Bolin, and Bolin gulped.

Laura was the first to speak up. “Bo, maybe you should go back to sleep – “

“No! I’m positive it was her!” Bolin kept a shaky finger pointed at a very hurt-looking Carmilla, “I remember her leaning over me and biting my neck!”

“That’s crazy! There’s no way Carmilla is a vampire, let alone _attack_ you, Bo,” Laura looked at Carmilla proudly at first, but Carmilla’s shamed face shook Laura’s confidence. “Right…Carmilla?”

Carmilla looked up at Laura, embarrassed and ashamed. Danny looked between the two and watched as Laura’s face fell from confusion, to anger, to hurt, and back to confusion.

“Carmilla didn’t attack Bolin,” Danny suddenly jut in, “I swear, it wasn’t Carmilla.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Opal’s voice strained with both anger and denial, “Let’s get back to the part where Bolin pointed at Carmilla, called her a _vampire,_ and no one denied it!”

“Yeah, what the hell is _that_ all about?” Mako yelled, turning and facing the wavy-haired girl, “What the bloody hell is wrong with you?!”

“Carm isn’t…she wouldn’t…” Laura sat on the nearest bed, looking straight into Carmilla’s dark eyes.

“No, no! It wasn’t Carmilla!” Danny hated watching Laura crumble, “Carmilla, say something!”

“No, how about she doesn’t say bloody _anything,_ because she’s a f****** vampire who attacked my brother!”

“It was her! I remember it, I remember her face and I remember her fangs, and –“

“How _dare_ you attack him! How _dare you lie to all of us!”_

“It wasn’t Carmilla! I promise! Please, Carmilla, say something!”

Carmilla kept her eyes on Laura, and felt her dead heart crack at the sight of Laura’s broken face. Carmilla opened her mouth and began to speak, but Mako wouldn’t hear a word.

“Don’t you f****** say anything, you goddamn bloody monster!” He ran over to her and grabbed her t-shirt by the neck. “I swear, if Laura and Opal weren’t in the room right now, I would f****** --“

“STOP!” Laura yelled, silencing everyone, “P-please, just, s-s-stop.” Mako’s chest heaved with anger, but he let go of Carmilla’s shirt. Laura’s brown eyes were filled with tears as she slowly walked over to where Carmilla stood, shoulders slumped and eyes drooping.

“C-Carm?” Laura started, “Please, just, don’t lie. Are…are you a…are you?”

Carmilla took a step towards Laura but Laura took a step back, instantly freezing the room. Carmilla, for once, didn’t know what to say.

“This isn’t…I was going to tell you but, I needed to do it the right way.”

“So…so it’s true?” A tear fell down Laura’s face, “How? Why? Why didn’t you tell me?! How could you _lie_ to me?!”

“I never meant to hurt you, I just wasn’t ready. I –“

“No. Not right now.” Laura wiped her face and bit her quivering lip, “Right now, I need you to answer one more question. Did you…bite…Bolin?”

Carmilla shifted her weight. “I didn’t attack him.”

“So you _did_ bite him?!”

Danny jumped in again. “Laura, let me explain! Carmilla _had_ to bite Bolin in order to close the wounds that were already there!”

Everyone looked at Danny like she had something disgusting on her face. Opal turned to face her. “I’m sorry, what the f***?”

“It’s true, I…I saw the whole thing.”

“You saw Carmilla attack Bolin?!”

“No! I saw Carmilla closing Bolin’s wounds!”

“How do you know she wasn’t the one who _opened_ the wounds in the first place?”

Danny looked at Carmilla and nodded firmly. “I trust her. She and I may not see eye to eye on most things, but I know it wasn’t her. Otherwise…Bolin here would be dead, and…I would be dead, too.”

Nothing could be heard in the room except for Laura’s muffled cries. Carmilla wanted to go over to Laura and comfort her, kiss it better, but she knew that it would take time for Laura to trust her again. And that was assuming she ever did trust her again.

Bolin’s shaky, pointing finger had lowered significantly since he first called out Carmilla, but that was mostly due to fatigue, rather than acceptance of Carmilla’s innocence. “I hate to be a downer, but…you did bite me, right? I’m not crazy?”

 _Goddammit,_ Carmilla swallowed hard. “I…I’m sorry, Bolin, but there was just so much blood…”

**********

Danny turned to face Carmilla with fire in her eyes. “ _What?!”_

“I’m sorry, alright?!” Carmilla’s body went rigid. Her throat burned with shame. She knew Laura was only a few feet away, listening intently and heartbrokenly to every syllable that came out of her mouth, but she couldn’t lie. Not with everyone there. “I just…there was _so_ much blood, I couldn’t control myself. But I snapped out of it as soon as I recognized Bolin’s scent, okay? And I wasn’t technically lying when I said that there were sloppy, previous wounds. That’s how the blood was there in the first place."

“I stood up for you,” Danny was shaking in anger, “And you _lied to me?!_ To _all_ of us?!”

“Carm…” Laura’s cracking voice was barely audible, but Carmilla heard it.

“I’m sorry,” Carmilla’s shoulders fell at the hurt in Laura’s voice, “I, I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt anyone.”

“But you did,” Mako’s nostrils flared, “And you’re a vampire. Which not only makes you the ultimate suspect in this scenario, but our enemy.”

“No! No, please, I didn’t attack Bolin!” Carmilla felt numb. No one had ever caught her so vulnerable and exposed before. _No one except_ …Carmilla looked back at her Laura and her legs lost feeling. Laura’s eyes seemed empty, void of all their original, happy, yellow hope. _I can’t believe…it happened again…_

“C…Carm…” Another tear fell down Laura’s suddenly gaunt cheek, “Don’t, don’t hurt Carm…”

“Laura,” Opal’s eyebrows knit together, “We can’t trust her.”

“I know, I know, but, I do,” Laura gripped at the sheets underneath her.

Carmilla’s dry mouth dropped open. _She…trusts me? Even now?_

“What?” Mako seemed equally surprised.

“Y…yes. I trust her.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I trust her, too,” Danny looked at Mako, trying to convey as much sanity as possible, “She may have, er, drank a little of Bolin’s blood, but she was the one who ultimately saved him. Plus, she actually came clean about drinking Bolin’s blood. She didn’t have to say that, but she did, because her conscience told her to.” Mako rubbed his temples, deep in thought. “I don’t think she would ever want to hurt one of Laura’s friends. I’m intimidated, too, but I don’t quite distrust her yet.”

“Okay. Fine,” The vein in Mako’s forehead pounded mercilessly, “You want us to believe that Carmilla – the _vampire,_ who _bit my brother,_ and _sucked his blood_ – isn’t the villain? Fine. I’ll let Laura deal with Carmilla, then. Now we move on to the bigger question: if Carmilla didn’t do it, who did?”

Bolin slumped back in his bed. Danny cracked her neck. Mako tapped his foot impatiently. Opal rubbed the back of Bolin’s hand incessantly. Laura sniffed.

Just then, Korra and Asami walked into the room, smiling brightly and walking so closely together that they might’ve been on top of each other. Their smiles faded as they read the expressions of the people in the room.

“Hey, sorry we’re late,” Korra walked over to the group but stopped when she saw Laura wipe her cheeks. She sat down next to Laura and wrapped an arm around her in a side hug, with worry now written all over her face. “What’s up? What’d we miss?”

“You want the long story or the short one?” Opal sighed, drained.

“Let’s go with the short one, yeah?” Mako fumed, “Carmilla’s a vampire. She bit Bolin, sucked his blood, but then because she didn't kill him, she saved his life. Which means a) Carmilla is our own personal friendly vampire, SURPRISE. And b) there’s another vampire on the loose here in the castle, who attacked Bolin, and no one knows who it is. Does that cover it?”

Laura began to shake as she sobbed silently into Korra’s chest, obliging Korra to use both arms and to squeeze her until everything went away.

“Hey, Mako,” Danny put a gentle hand on his shoulder, “Maybe –“

“Don’t ‘hey Mako’ me!” Mako threw Danny’s hand off roughly, “This is absolutely insane, and we’re not doing anything about it!”

Opal stood from the bed and walked over to where Mako stood. “Mako! Mako, maybe Danny’s right. Let’s at least move outside from the hospital wing, away from Bolin…” She motioned to her exhausted boyfriend. “Let’s talk about this outside, yeah? He’s still a few quarts low. I’m not sure hearing all of this fussing and drama is helping him rest.”

Mako nodded and pushed past Carmilla, aggressively bumping into her. Carmilla looked offended for a split second, but most of her energy was directed towards being ashamed, rather than being angry.

Danny followed closely behind Mako, but she gave Carmilla a sympathetic nod and awkwardly patted her on the shoulder. Carmilla resumed staring at Laura, who was no longer crying, but who kept a close hold on her very stunned, short-haired friend.

Mako reached out to angrily push the door open, but the door swung suddenly away from him before he could grab the handle.

Perry stood outside, holding the other opening to the door. “Have any of you lot seen Sus...LaFontaine?”

Asami nudged her way into Perry’s view. “Korra and I met up with them in the lab before we came over here...they’re not with you?”

Perry shook her head nervously. “No, they told me they would meet me after they stopped by the lab so we could go to the hospital together -- they know I’m not the biggest fan of blood or hospitals or anything -- but when they didn’t show I got worried, you know with what happened to poor Bolin last night, and thought maybe --”

 _Over the intercom:_ “ALL STUDENTS WILL PLEASE REPORT TO THEIR DORMITORIES IMMEDIATELY. ALL TEACHERS WILL REPORT TO THE THIRD FLOOR CORRIDOR IMMEDIATELY.”

Perry’s already wide eyes stretched to their full capacity. “What…what’s going on?!”

Mako looked at Danny, who looked at Laura, who looked at Korra, who looked at Asami.

“Perry, you need to get back to the Hufflepuff common room so you can take roll and follow protocol,” Asami’s tone was firm, but sweet, “Korra, Danny and I will head to the third floor corridor and try to check things out. We’ll let you know what we hear as soon as we can.”

“What am _I_ supposed to do, sit on my ass and sing songs to the first years?” Mako half-asked, half-whined.

Korra glanced briefly at her tiny, moping little honey-haired friend and answered. “Mako, you and Laura escort Opal to the Ravenclaw common room, and then make your way to Gryffindor’s. Carmilla should have a handle on the hospital wing.”

“You’re letting Carmilla act as one of our team members?” Mako glared.

“She won’t hurt Bolin if I’m there,” Laura offered, quietly, “Mako and I can stay with Opal, Bolin and Carmilla at the hospital until we hear back from you all. If we don’t hear anything in an hour, Mako and Opal can go out and check the common rooms for any sign of anything uncommon.”

“Deal,” Korra gave Laura a sad smile, “But hopefully, we’re all just over-reacting, and this whole intercom announcement thing is just response to some stupid second-year pulling an alarm, or spilling some toxic substance, right? I mean, the school nearly shut down when Bolin and I accidentally set the tapestries in the Great Hall on fire, but that was all just an over-reaction, too!”

Asami cocked her head at Korra’s attempt to lighten the mood. No one else seemed to appreciate Korra’s humor at the moment, but Asami was grateful for Korra’s level, albeit quirky, head.

“Anyways. I’m off to the Hufflepuff common room,” Perry huffed, “Hopefully we’ll see you all in an hour or less.” She darted down the stairs, following a nervous-looking group of young Hufflepuffs, and began shoo-ing them towards the common room.

Asami and Danny followed suit. Korra gave Laura a reassuring pat on the back before sprinting down the stairs after them.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll try to update regularly on Sundays and Thursdays!
> 
> EDIT: I'm stuck on the ending. I don't like how I've ended it, and I'm looking for inspiration. Ideas? HALP


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